Emmy's Story

After seeing The Music Man movie, Emmy imagined herself marching down the street playing an instrument and wearing a bright fancy uniform. At age 10 she began playing the trombone and it quickly became a passion. Growing up, Emmy played in many ensembles including the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (where Allison was also a member).

Continuing her quest for trombone excellence, Emmy became a music major at UW-Milwaukee and studied with Megumi Kanda, Principal Trombonist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Mark Hoelscher, Milwaukee area freelancer. After her undergraduate work, Emmy thought of playing for movie soundtracks and spent some time studying in Los Angeles. It was there that she met former Principal Trombonist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Ralph Sauer. Mr. Sauer was teaching at Arizona State University at the time and Emmy decided to continue studying with him as a master’s student at ASU. After her first year at ASU, Douglas Yeo, former Bass Trombonist of the Boston Symphony, became the new trombone professor. Emmy was awarded a trombone studio teaching assistantship and, with the support of Professor Yeo, stayed on at ASU to complete a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. As part of her doctoral project, Emmy wrote and illustrated a children’s book titled Mr. Fitch Joins the Band which has since been published.

Since 2016 Emmy has been back in the Midwest. She is currently an active performer and music educator in the Chicago and Milwaukee areas. Chamber music, audience engagement, and musical storytelling have long been among her passions and Emmy is extremely grateful to have reconnected with Allison and excited to collaborate with her in the creation of the Firefly Brass Duo.

View Emmy's musician website here.