Emily Cook is a dynamic performer and educator based in Pittsburgh, PA and Bloomington, IN. She serves as bass clarinetist with the Evansville Philharmonic and Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and is the former principal clarinetist of the Akron Symphony Orchestra and bass clarinetist of the Richmond (VA) Symphony. She has also performed with the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh, Hartford, Williamsburg, and Westmoreland. Emily is dedicated to performing new music, regularly appearing with Pittsburgh’s Alia Musica and serving as the clarinetist and artistic director of Kamratōn, an ensemble which champions the work of contemporary female composers and performers and commissions and produces staged and dramatic chamber works.   Emily has also appeared with jazz/fusion group the Afro-Yaqui Music Collective and is active in Pittsburgh’s free improvisation community.

Emily received an artist diploma and a master’s degree from Duquesne University, where she studied with Ron Samuels and served as a graduate assistant in the music history and theory departments. Previously, Emily studied with David Bell at Lawrence University, graduating with degrees in K-12 music education and clarinet performance.  Her other teachers include Jack Howell, Larry McDonald, Eric Ginsberg, and Louis Margaglione.  She has presented research blending music theory and performance studies on the work of Kaija Saariaho at the CUNY Graduate Center and at SUNY-Buffalo.

Emily leads woodwind sectionals at Franklin Central High School  in Indiana and formerly served as the choir accompanist at Dutilh United Methodist Church in Cranberry, PA. She is a native of Western Illinois and is a die-hard Cubs fan. In her spare time, she enjoys biking, drinking coffee, and reading Flannery O’Connor.

Photo credit: Alisa Innocenti