Ep 103 - Emma McPhilemy; Musical Director and Saxophone Soloist for Riverdance

March is Women’s History Month, and we are really excited to present the phenomenal multi-genre performer, educator and composer from the UK, Emma McPhilemy.

As a classically trained musician, Emma takes great pleasure in using her refined instrumental skill to experiment and collaborate with other performers. 

From classical, contemporary and improvisational to folk, pop, R&B and dance, she thrives most when creating and pushing the limits and boundaries of cross-genre performance. 

As an educator, Emma has taught private students of all abilities, and presented professional masterclasses and workshops at Universities in China, Australia, UK and Europe. 

Recent career highlights include making her debut concerto performance with The BBC Philharmonic, touring internationally as Musical Director and saxophone soloist in Bill Whelan’s production of ‘Riverdance’, traveling to Australia as guest artist at ‘The Melbourne Saxophone Festival’ and launching her own online, saxophone series (#lockthesaxdown) which has since turned into a global project and fully funded album, to be released over the coming months. 

2021 holds her debut album release and a rescheduled tour with Riverdance. 

Emma plans to make an appearance at the 2022 World Saxophone Congress in Japan, and in Trento at the European Saxophone Congress. 

Emma is endorsed by Selmer Paris, Vandoren and KeyLeaves. 

The link to his full biography, along with more Resources for this episode, is on our website.

In this episode, we talked about:

• Her innovative “Lock the Sax Down” project
• Her experience with folk music as a sax player
• Emma’s approach to improvisation when it comes to different genres
• Equipment and her set-up on alto and soprano sax
• How her musical background allowed her to learn the Riverdance show in a week
• Emma’s approach to teaching
• Her mentors, influences, & inspirations
• The evolution of her practice routines
• Breathing tips for wind musicians
• Above-and-beyond Goal-setting tips!
• The under $100 tool she can’t live without
• and more!

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