TMA149 Members

Praised for her “huge musicality, depth of interpretation, and technical expertise needed to distinguish oneself in the music profession” (Manhattan International Music Competition), cellist Emma Schmiedecke has established herself as a vibrant interpreter of both the classical and contemporary cello repertoire. Recent engagements include being a visiting artist at the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival in Newfoundland & Labrador and the Fresh Inc. New Music Festival in the summer of 2021. Awards and prizes include a Silver Medal in the Professional Category of the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition, the Temerty Family Foundation Scholarship, the George Martin/Hans Thatcher Clark Scholarship, the Christopher Bunting Scholarship, the Mai Why and Peter Levitt Graduate Scholarship, the Clive Allen Fellowship, the Denise Ireland & Harry Underwood Fellowship, the Ingeborg and Angela Kramer Award, a McGill University Graduate Dean’s Award, and first prize in the Bravura Philharmonic and Bergen Philharmonic Young Artist Competitions. A strong advocate for contemporary music, she has worked closely with composers Joan Tower, John Corigliano, George Tsontakis, Ana Sokolovic, Susan Botti, and Stacy Garrop, and has performed with the Da Capo Chamber Players, the American Composers Orchestra, Fifth House Ensemble, Against the Grain Theatre Company, Novarumori Ensemble, and the Contemporaneous New Music Ensemble in multiple world premieres.

As guest soloist, Emma has performed with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, and Bravura Philharmonic. She has performed in masterclasses for Colin Carr, Raphael Wallfisch, David Geringas, Leon Fleisher, and Arnold Steinhardt, among others. As a chamber musician, she has been mentored by artists including Ida Kavafian, Levon Chilingirian, Daniel Phillips, Steven Dann, Barry Shiffman, Duo Concertante, the Gryphon Trio, and the Shanghai Quartet. Emma has been a visiting artist at The Banff Centre, the Centre d’Arts Orford, the Toronto Summer Music Festival, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Chamber Music Festival, Vermont Mozart Festival, Atlantic Music Festival, the Heifetz Institute, the Round Top Festival Institute, the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute, the NYU Steinhardt String Quartet Seminar, and the Oxford Cello School in Oxford, England.

As a chamber and orchestral musician, she is cellist and co-founder of Duo Caprice, is a core member of OrchestraOne NYC, and has performed as cellist in the American Symphony Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Company of Middlebury Orchestra, the Opera Italiana Symphony Orchestra, the Pronto Musica Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Agora, and with the New Jersey Choral Society. A dedicated teacher, Emma teaches at Sistema Toronto, was teaching artist in cello for the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and has been a chamber music coach at the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists of the Royal Conservatory of Music. She is also on the artistic committee and is Cello Representative for the Toronto International Music Festival. Emma attends the University of Toronto School of Music as a doctoral candidate in Cello Performance in the studio of Joseph Johnson and is a teaching assistant in the Department of Strings. She obtained both a Master of Music and Graduate Diploma in Cello Performance from the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. She also holds an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, a Bachelor of Music from the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from Bard College, all magna cum laude. Her primary teachers include Peter Wiley, Matt Haimovitz, Yegor Dyachkov, Desmond Hoebig, Andrés Diaz, Sophie Shao, Luis Garcia-Renart, André Emelianoff, Bjørn Bantock, and Jonathan Spitz. She plays a 1918 Italian cello “Tutto” by Puglisi of Catania.