Education
- DMA in Cello Performance, University of Toronto
- Graduate Diploma in Cello Performance - McGill University
- MMus in Cello Performance, McGill University
- Artist Diploma in Cello Performance, The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music
- BMus in Cello Performance, The Bard College Conservatory of Music
- BA in Art History, Bard College
Biography
Praised for her “huge musicality, depth of interpretation, and technical expertise” (Manhattan International Music Competition), cellist Emma Schmiedecke has established herself as a vibrant interpreter of both the classical and contemporary cello repertoire. Select 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 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, Stacy Garrop, Linda Catlin-Smith, and Kevin Lau, and has performed with the Da Capo Chamber Players, the American Composers Orchestra, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, 21C New Music Festival, the Ligeti String Quartet, the Canadian Composers Orchestra Digital Generations Project, Slow Rise Music, the JAM Orchestra, Fifth House Ensemble, Against the Grain Theatre Company, Novarumori Ensemble, and the Contemporaneous New Music Ensemble in multiple world premieres and at the Mostly Modern Festival.
As guest soloist, Emma has performed with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, and Bravura Philharmonic, and performed in masterclasses for Steven Isserlis, 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, Scott St. John, Mark Fewer, Duo Concertante, the Gryphon Trio, and the Shanghai Quartet. Emma has appeared at Ottawa Chamberfest and Big Lake Chamber Music Festival with the Continuum HATCH Contemporary Ensemble, Stratford Summer Music, and 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, Tuckamore 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.
An active chamber musician, Emma is co-founder of Duo Caprice with oboist/English hornist Luka Marcoux and is a core cellist of the Lagom Music Society (Toronto) and Bang Bang Strings. She has performed in the American Symphony Orchestra, the Hollywood Film Music Orchestra, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Opera Company of Middlebury Orchestra, OrchestraOne NYC, the Opera Italiana Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Golha Orchestra, the Pronto Musica Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Agora, and the Canadian Studio Orchestra. A dedicated teacher, Dr. Schmiedecke has taught at the University of Toronto, the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Youth Orchestra & Music Education Program, Sistema Toronto, and the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. Emma received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Cello Performance from the University of Toronto, and 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. Her primary teachers include Peter Wiley, Matt Haimovitz, Joseph Johnson, Yegor Dyachkov, Desmond Hoebig, Andrés Diaz, Sophie Shao, Luis Garcia-Renart, Bjørn Bantock, and Jonathan Spitz.