Emily Koh's music reimagines everyday experiences by sonically expounding tiny oft-forgotten details, and explores binary states such as extremities/boundaries and activity/stagnation.
Emily Koh (b.1986) is a Singaporean composer-bassist based in Atlanta whose music aims to elevate the ordinary by sonically expounding everyday human experiences. Her music usually consists of multiple layers of details that are intricately weaved together, and can be self-described as other-worldly with raw and intense grit. She is a multi-faceted creator who learns, reflects and works best by working collaboratively with other artists.
Described as “the future of composing” (The Straits Times, Singapore), Emily is the recipient of awards such as the Copland House Residency Award, Young Artist Award (National Arts Council, Singapore), Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize (Asian Composers League), ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Prix D’Ete (Peabody), and the Macagnoni Prize for Innovative Research (University of Georgia). Her work is supported with commissions, grants and fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, National Arts Council (Singapore), Opera America, New Music USA, MacDowell, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, American Composers’ Orchestra, Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy, the Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence (National University of Singapore) and others. Described as “beautifully eerie” (New York Times), and “subtley spicy” (Baltimore Sun), Emily’s music has been performed around the world in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Israel, Croatia, Greece, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, by acclaimed ensembles such as Guerilla Opera, Alarm Will Sound, PRISM Quartet, New Thread Quartet, Ensemble Dal Niente, Talea Ensemble, Transient Canvas, New York New Music Ensemble, New York Virtuoso Singers, Departure Duo (US/DE), Strings and Hammers (US/FI), Orquesta Sinfónica de Aguascalientes (Mexico), Trio Accanto (DE), Avanti! (FI), orkest de ereprijs (NL), Tacet(i) (Thailand), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Next Mushroom Project (JP), TACETi (Thailand), National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Chai Found Music Workshop (TW), Ding Yi Music Company (Singapore), Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Noa Even (saxophone), Clare Longendyke (piano), Lilit Hartunian (violin) and others. Her music is published by Babel Scores (Europe) and Poco Piu Publishing (worldwide), and can be heard on the Innova, XAS, New Focus and Ravello labels.
Emily is currently Associate Professor of Music Composition at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia (UGA), USA. She also taught at the Alba Music Festival Composition Program (Italy), International Composition Institute of Thailand, Asia-Pacific Saxophone Academy (Thailand) and the Etchings Festival (USA). Prior to UGA, she taught at Brandeis and Harvard Universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Longy School of Music (Bard College) and Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She graduated from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, National University of Singapore (BM Music Composition), the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University (MM Music Composition and Music Theory Pedagogy), and Brandeis University (Ph.D. graduate in Music Composition and Theory), where she studied with Ho Chee Kong, Kevin Puts, David Rakowski, Eric Chasalow and Yu-Hui Chang. She has attended academies such as Composers Conference, June in Buffalo, Mizzou International Composers Festival, Red Note New Music Festival, Young Composers Meeting (NL), Savellyspaja (FI), Delian Academy (GR), and Takefu International Music Festival (JP).
Emily is on the leadership team of ensemble vim, a new music collective in Atlanta. She is also the National Treasurer of the Society of Composers Inc., and serves on the advisory boards of Composers Conference, Indictus Project, Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective, and Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble. She had also held artistic and administrative positions at the Boston New Music Initiative (Director of Concert Series, 2012-2016), Lunar Ensemble (composer-in-residence, 2012-2014) and Composers Society of Singapore (CSS) (honorary ex-co member, 2014-2020), and is a member of ASCAP, SCI, and CSS.
Besides music, Emily is a foodie, an amateur artist, and a wannabe gardener. She enjoys a good cup of tea, horror movies and strategy board games.
Emily Koh (b.1986) is a Singaporean composer+ based in Atlanta, Georgia whose music reimagines everyday experiences by sonically expounding tiny oft-forgotten details, and explores binary states such as extremities/boundaries and activity/stagnation. She especially enjoys collaborating with creatives of other specializations.
Described as “the future of composing” (The Straits Times, Singapore), Emily is the recipient of awards such as the Copland House Residency Award, Young Artist Award (National Arts Council, Singapore), Yoshiro Irino Memorial Prize (Asian Composers League), ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, Prix D’Ete (Peabody), and the Macagnoni Prize for Innovative Research (University of Georgia). Her work is supported with commissions, grants and fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, National Arts Council (Singapore), Opera America, New Music USA, MacDowell, the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition, American Composers’ Orchestra, Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy, the Paul Abisheganaden Grant for Artistic Excellence (National University of Singapore) and others. Described as “beautifully eerie” (New York Times), and “subtley spicy” (Baltimore Sun), Emily’s music has been performed around the world, and is published by Babel Scores (Europe) and Poco Piu Publishing (worldwide).
Emily is currently Associate Professor of Music Composition at the University of Georgia, USA.
Emily Koh (b.1986) is a Singaporean composer+ based in Atlanta, Georgia whose music reimagines everyday experiences by sonically expounding tiny oft-forgotten details, and explores binary states such as extremities/boundaries and activity/stagnation. She especially enjoys collaborating with creatives of other specializations.
許佩珊 (出生于1986年)是一位新加坡作曲家,也是一位低音提琴手。 她目前居住于美国亚特兰大。她的音乐作品通过用声音表现那些生活中经常被人们遗忘的微小细节,诠释着日常的生活体验。除了创作原音乐和电子音乐会音乐外,她也喜欢与其他创作者合作。許佩珊曾被评价为“作曲的未来” (新加坡海峡时报),曾获得科普兰屋居住计划奖,新加坡青年艺术家奖,入野义朗作曲纪念奖,ASCAP 莫頓·古尔德年轻作曲家奖,埃特奖以及PARMA 比赛等奖项;受到来自巴洛音乐创作基金会,卫斯理学院作曲家大会,新加坡交响乐团,左岸室内乐团,恐龙附属乐团的委约;并且获得来自美国新音乐,女子爱乐倡导者以及 Paul Abisheganaden 艺术成就奖的资助。她也曾在 MacDowell 和 Avaloch Farm 当为居住计划作曲家。許佩珊的作品被在新加坡,马来西亚,泰国,越南,中国,日本,韩国,荷兰,意大利,法国,瑞士,芬兰,以色列,英国,加拿大和美国,由多个深受赞誉的乐团和演奏家表演,包括了塔利亚乐团,达尔尼恩特乐团,纽约新音乐乐团,信号乐团,游击剧团,波士顿新音乐倡议会,新线四重奏,AVANTI室内乐团 (芬兰),以色列现代室内乐团(以色列),Sentieri Selvaggi (意大利),The Next Mushroom Promotion(日本),Chroma 乐团 (英国),新加坡交响乐团,新加坡华乐团,新加坡爱乐乐团,和鼎艺团 (新加坡)。許佩珊毕业于新加坡国立大学杨秀桃音乐学院 (作曲学士学位),约翰·霍普金斯大学皮博迪学院 (音乐创作和音乐理论教育学硕士学位) 和布兰戴斯大学(音乐创作及理论博士学位)。她目前是美国乔治亚大学(UGA) 休·霍奇森音乐学院的作曲系副教授。在 UGA 任教之前,她曾在布兰戴斯大学和哈佛大学,麻省理工学院,隆基音乐学院 (巴德学院) 和胡桃山艺术学校任教。許佩珊是美国作曲家、作家和发行商协会 (ASCAP), 作曲家协会 (SCI) 以及新加坡作曲家协会的成员。她的音乐作品由 Babel Scores 和 Poco Piu 发行。許佩珊是一位低音提琴手。她在 Subaerial Collective 三重奏组中演奏低音提琴/电贝司。
Emily Koh (b.1986) is a Singaporean composer-bassist based in Atlanta, GA. At 13, she was immediately drawn to the double bass for being the antithesis of the piano. Bass-playing is communal and collaborative--both elements that Emily strongly believe in. She is a versatile performer who primarily plays in new music and improvisatory settings, also enjoys playing chamber music and continues to play in orchestras (both Western and Chinese) and pits. She has played in incredible places such as the Goldener Saal at the Musikverein (Vienna, Austria), Carnegie Hall (New York, NY), Symphony Hall (Boston, MA), the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), the Esplanade (Singapore) and across the US and mainland China.
As a composer-bassist, Emily is most excited to champion solo bass works by living composers that place microtonality at the forefront, as well as works composed specially for 5-string bass (with a low B0 string.) She is currently working on a collection of etudes focused on developing extended techniques for the double bass.
Emily is one third of Subaerial Collective with Adrian Childs (keyboards) and Peter Lane (bassoon/contrabassoon). Formed in September 2018, Subaerial Collective champions works that expand the limits of traditional concert boundaries through the use of technology, reinterpretation of performance practice or re-contextualization of the concert experience. Emily is also one fourth of ensemble vim, a new music collective focused on cross-disciplinary collaborations and community education. For new and chamber music, she has also performed with the Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra, Bent Frequency, neoPhonia ensemble, Sound Icon, Boston New Music Initiative, Boston Nonet, and New Music Brandeis.
Emily also enjoys playing in orchestras and in the pit, and current performs with the Dekalb Symphony Orchestra. She has also been a member of the New England Philharmonic (Principal), the Philharmonic Orchestra, the Singapore Lyric Opera Orchestra (Associate Principal), and City Chinese Orchestra.
She studied bass with Paul Johnson at the Peabody Institute (Johns Hopkins University), Guennadi Mouzyka at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (National University of Singapore) and Lee Tsu Hock under a Singapore National Youth Orchestra scholarship.
Emily plays a 5-string bass of limited known origins with busetto corners; this instrument is the love of her life. She also plays a 5-string NS Omni bass (electric, fretless, and can also be bowed!) and can occasionally be found playing a deluxe Kirby otamatone.