In the age of AI, somatic memory and physical dexterity have never been more precious to me. Classical musicians are born of a unique culture: early training, long hours spent practicing repeated motions and breath control, and Western canonical repertoire ingrained in the hands of people across the world. As an artist I strive to preserve and celebrate these intangible human artifacts through deliberate choreography and permanent notation.  

--

Kentucky-born composer Emily Liushen explores somatic hyperawareness and the intimacy of human touch through musical notation. She is the recipient of a 2025 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2025 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, 2 Thea Musgrave Commissioning Prizes, and a 2026 Yellow Barn Artist Residency with Katie Liu. Her works have been performed across the country by Ensemble Connect, The Rhythm Method, David Shifrin & Friends, the New York Youth Symphony, Yale Philharmonia, Princeton Camerata, JACK Quartet, Atlys Quartet, Opus Chamber Group, and Quartet Iris of the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Trained classically as a pianist and clarinetist, she went on to study music history and composition at Princeton University (AB) with Donnacha Dennehy and composition at the Yale School of Music (MM) with Katherine Balch, Martin Bresnick, David Lang, Aaron Jay Kernis, and Chris Theofanidis. Emily is currently based in New York City, where she is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School.

Photo credits: Alexei Gorokholinsky (top), Nico Mateo (headshots)