ABOUT EMMA
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In Emma's voice, you can hear the influence of a generation of bebop-loving vocalists: Blossom Dearie, Carmen McRae, Sheila Jordan, Sarah Vaughan, and Betty Carter, to name a few. Her experience as a musician has been closely entwined with her sensibilities as a composer, lyricist, and a sensitive soul. Her lyrics have been described by peers as "wickedly funny", "conversational", "unflinchingly honest". She holds a B.F.A. with Specialized Honours in Music from York University (2014), where she studied under vocalists Rita DiGhent and Lynn MacDonald, vocalist/saxophonist Sundar Viswanathan, and Toronto jazz scene veterans Richard Whiteman, Frank Falco, Ron Westray, Kelly Jefferson, and others.
Emma has sung in classical, jazz and gospel choirs for 15 years. Emma arranges jazz standards, hymns and folk songs for SATB jazz voice. Her setting of the American National Anthem was featured in concert at the New York Summer Music Festival and at Damasche Field in Oneonta, New York, in 2012. In the Greater Toronto Area, she has sung with Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, That Choir, Etobicoke Centennial Choir, and several church choirs. Emma lives and works in the Greater Toronto Area as a freelance performer, composer, arranger, and music transcriptionist. She is also a visual artist, specializing in pen drawings, oil and acrylic painting, and more recently, collages. |