CARDON-WAKE, Emma

Emma Cardon-Wake is an American composer and harpsichordist from Logan, Utah. She studied composition at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where she also completed a minor in harpsichord performance, and received her Bachelor of Music degree in 2021. In 2023, she earned a Master of Music in Composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music, receiving the Donald Erb Prize in Composition and the Isada-Stillman-Varma Award in Music Theory. She subsequently pursued doctoral studies in composition at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and joined the faculty of Utah State University as a composition instructor.
Cardon-Wake writes for orchestral, chamber, vocal and solo forces, often incorporating electronic media. Her catalogue includes the chamber opera A Storm We Call Progress, the chamber oratorio Summerland, the orchestral song cycle The Sound of Talking, the string quartet Airport Birds, the harpsichord suite Dream Pictures and Insecta, a published suite for solo piano. Her music has been performed by ensembles including the Fry Street Quartet, the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra, the Utah State University Symphony Orchestra, Moon Unit Duo and 3D Percussion. Her distinctions include recognition from the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the Music Teachers National Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs and the National YoungArts Foundation.