​Described as “dazzling” and “scintillating,” (Classical Source) and lauded for her “beautiful singing lines” and performances filled with “drama and energy” (Joan Tower), pianist Emiko Edwards continues to captivate audiences with her sincere musical interpretations and wide variety of tonal color.

​Edwards’s international performing career has taken her across North America, Europe, and Asia, where she has had the pleasure of appearing in such prized concert venues as Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall), Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Milton Court Concert Hall (London), and Universidad de Laboral (Spain). A champion of modern music and composers of our day, Edwards holds a number of BBC credits to her name. Her performances of works by Henryk Gorecki and Richard Rodney Bennett have received international acclaim and have all been recorded for and broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Additional highlights include the Philadelphia premier of the Joan Tower Piano Concerto (Homage to Beethoven), a duo recital for the Barbican Centre’s Sound Unbound Festival, and the American premier of an original composition by Karen Lefrak at the David H. Koch Theater in collaboration with members of the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater. Equally at home with both modern and standard 

Pianist

repertoire, concerto engagements include those with the Guildhall Brass Ensemble, Cambridge Graduate Orchestra, Bravura Philharmonic, Temple University Symphony, Manalapan Battleground, New Sussex Symphony, and Westfield Symphony Orchestras. Edwards is a graduate of The Juilliard School, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Temple University.

In addition to airtime in the UK, footage of Edwards’s performances and interviews have been broadcast on television and radio throughout the United States. She is featured in two documentaries, On a Personal Note and "Piano Forte": The Julia Crane International Piano Competition, both which have aired nationally on PBS. She has won numerous awards at both the national and international level, winning first prize at age eleven in the 18th International Young Artist Competition (Washington, D.C.), before subsequently taking prizes at the France Music Competition, Bachauer Scholarship Competition, Princeton Festival Piano Competition, Cape Vincent International Piano Competition, Julia Crane International Piano Competition, 5 Towns Music & Art Foundation Competition, The New York International Piano Competition, and the Music Teacher’s National Association Competitions. She has been the recipient of numerous grants and scholarships (Linklaters, James Gibb, Banff Centre, Orford Arts Centre, Nelly Ben-Or Trust) for which she is eternally grateful and has been chosen to appear in public masterclasses with world-renown artists and pedagogues such as Steven Kovacevich, Marc Durand, Robert McDonald, Andre Michel Schub, Joseph Kalichstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Robert Levin, Nelly Ben-Or, John Perry, and Jacques Rouvier.

​

​An avid advocate for outreach and community, Ms. Edwards was the artistic director for The Five Boroughs Performing Arts Series from 2011–2012, a concert series dedicated to spreading dance, music, and drama throughout New York City. In partnership with the Boys Club of New York, she organized and executed concerts in the Bronx, Queens, and Lower Manhattan. She is in high demand as both an educator and adjudicator, and has taught and mentored students at The Juilliard School and Temple University. She currently teaches piano performance and chamber music at Saint Joseph’s University and is head of the piano department at Luzerne Music Center, a summer music program for bourgeoning young musicians that regularly hosts world-renown guest artists and composers such as Midori, Leonard Slatkin, Bruce Brubeck, John Corigliano, George Crumb, and Joan Tower. Previous summer posts include those at Bravura Summer Music, Encore-Coda, and Juilliard Drama Intensive (Snow College, UT).

Edwards was awarded her degrees from The Juilliard School (B.M.), Guildhall School of Music and Drama (MPerf, Artist Diploma), and Temple University (D.M.A), where she studied with Julian Martin, Ronan O’Hora, Sara Davis Buechner, and Lambert Orkis. Her monograph titled, Gendered Trends in Piano Performance: A Study of Women Pianists discusses the inherent gendering of classical music repertoire as well as the gendered narratives specific to piano performance culture. It features 70 years of subscription season data (1950–2019) collected from the New York Philharmonic archives, as well as the analysis of documented interviews, historical and contemporary New York Times reviews (1950–2019), and magazine articles featured in the Clavier Companion/Piano Magazine (2010–2019) and Etude (1950–1957).

​

Emiko Edwards