ABOUT EMMA
Bio
Emma Scolaro is an Australian composer and performer whose music focuses on ecological connections and collaborative practice. Ideas of natural beauty, complex gestural patterns and interdisciplinary relationships are ongoing themes in her work.
Emma completed her undergraduate degree in composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2019. She has studied with well-known composers including Salvatore Sciarrino, Liza Lim, Kate Moore, Damien Ricketson, Sharon Calcraft and Daniel Blinkhorn.
Premiers of her works have been performed by ensembles such as: The Acacia Quartet, CORVUS, Quartetto Prometeo and The Sydney Youth Orchestra, along with Sydney Conservatorium based ensembles. She received a commission from The Scots College in Sydney and was commissioned to write the score for the short film Swallows, which was shown at 2019 film festivals both in Australia and America (Sundance).
Emma has taken part in numerous international festivals and residencies. In 2019, she participated in the ‘Composing in the Wilderness’ residency where she spent a week field recording, kayaking and camping around Prince William Sound, Alaska. Her piece Suddenly a sound… an exhalation was premiered by CORVUS ensemble at Federal Hall in New York City in November 2019 as part of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. In 2018, she participated in the ‘Montreal Contemporary Music Lab’ where she worked with international artists including James O’Callaghan, Keiko Devaux, and Richard Parry. Her work Germinatif for piano trio and electronics was premiered at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal. She also attended the ‘Chigiana Summer Festival’ in 2017, where she studied under Salvatore Sciarrino. Her work for solo cello, Scintillante, was premiered by Francesco Dillon at Palazzo Chigi-Saracini in Siena, Italy.
Emma has been playing violin for over 15 years and currently performs with the tango group, Adelante. In 2016, Emma toured to Buenos Aires with TangoOz under the guidance of Maggie Ferguson. She attended masterclasses with musicians of the Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, learning all the wonderful techniques specific to tango: arrastre, chicharra, tambor.
