Em Singleton (b. 2002) is a composer, violist, and writer from Gainesville, Florida. Em’s debut performance was at the age of 5 for a house concert audience including a massive yellow lab who wanted more attention than Em did. Em’s recent work has focused on specific interaction of timbre, gesture, noise, representing physical textures, and intersections of poetry, linguistics, and music. They are a Jacobs Scholar at Indiana University Bloomington pursuing undergraduate studies in music composition, viola, and linguistics, studying composition with Sky Macklay, Aaron Travers, and Han Lash, and viola with Atar Arad.

Em has recorded and premiered live-to-picture Daniel Whitworth’s score for the 2022 Jon Vickers Film Scoring Award at the IU Cinema, as part of the Library of Congress’ restoration of Phil for Short in Kino Lorber’s “Cinema’s First Nasty Women” collection. With the Indiana University Symphony Orchestra, they performed William Grant Still’s opera Highway 1 USA and premiered Don Freund’s Urban Pastorale. They have also been part of Indiana University’s Conductors Orchestra. This fall they will play in the pit for the IU Theater Department’s production of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.

Em’s works have been performed at Indiana University’s Grunwald Gallery, University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson Concert Hall, University of Florida, Princeton University’s Taplin Auditorium, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Petaluma Arts Center, Historic Thomas Center, St. Augustine Music Festival, and Shapeshifter Lab. Their work has been played by Matchstick Percussion, Mimi Stillman, Face the Music, Elisa Sutherland, Gainesville Civic Chorus, Alachua County Youth Orchestra, New York Youth Symphony, and World Youth Wind Symphony. Em has participated in Interlochen Arts Camp, Curtis Summerfest, Wildflower Composers Festival, Sō Percussion Collaborative Workshop and Summer Institute, and NYO-USA.