Emma Logan

San Francisco-based composer Emma Logan (b. 1990) writes “music with contemporary resonance that feels as if our lives depend on it.” Her music has been described as “ethereal, harmonious, and dissonance-tinged” and explores the human experience through lyricism, gesture, and storytelling. In 2023, Emma was awarded the San Francisco Artist Grant by the SF Arts Commission to write Mother Eve, a song cycle/monodrama with original words by P. Smith. Described as “incendiary in sustaining a profound instability between music and words, inspiration and disillusionment, creativity and legacy”, Mother Eve was premiered by mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich and the SF Contemporary Music Players in November 2024. (SF Classical Voice)

 

Emma’s passion for contemporary music drives her to continue collaborating with fellow composers, performers, and artists to bring new music to life. She is co-founder of the Helia Music Collective, an organization dedicated to promoting women in music. Since its inception in 2016, Helia has presented multiple commissioning projects with Bay Area ensembles and artists, resulting in commissioning over a dozen new works by women. Emma is a curator throughout the Bay Area, and served as a curator for San Francisco’s Center for New Music in 2017-2019 where she presented 20 programs. In the past, she has served as a composer-in-residence for Fête Concerts and as an Artistic Director for Composers, Inc. In addition to her creative endeavors, Emma is passionate about arts administration. She is currently the Director of Booking for the War Memorial & Performing Arts Center in San Francisco.

 

Upcoming projects include releasing Funny Dancers, a new album with her band, Love Can’t Save You, Padmè. Past collaborations include commissions and performances by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Jeff Anderle and the SFCM Clarinet Ensemble, Earplay, Natalie Raney, Curium Trio, Liaison Ensemble, Robert Simonds, Miolina Duo, SopraDuo, Siroko Duo, Ensemble for These Times, Areon Flutes, and the Guerrilla Composers Guild.

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Emma’s work has been performed across the United States and internationally. She has participated in the League of American Orchestras’ Essentials in Orchestra Management Program, Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium with composer Robert Kyr, the Fresh Inc Music Festival with Fifth House Ensemble, and the Skaneateles Music Festival with composer Paul Moravec. Emma studied with David Garner at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and with Andrew Waggoner, Daniel S. Godfrey, and Nicholas Scherzinger at Syracuse University.