Emmaline

Emmaline (rhymes with clementine), a 22-year-old singer-songwriter-violinist, possesses a smoky, jazz-infused, genre-fluid voice. She’s admirable as much for the range of traditional sounds she draws upon as for her innovation, attitude, and sly humor. Her songs are bold in statement and soft in feel.

In this debut performance for a Center for the Performing Arts at-home audience, Emmaline will be accompanied by her guitarist Ryan Mondak. 

On her first U.S. tour in November 2019, she performed as the opening act for Chaka Khan​​. On her own, she has headlined sold-out shows at some of the country’s most notable jazz clubs, including The Jazz Standard​ (New York City), ​Scullers (Boston), ​Blues Alley​ (Washington, D.C.), ​The Jazz Kitchen​ (Indianapolis), and ​Keystone Korner​ (Baltimore). 

She has performed in a range of situations on stage and online—with big bands and orchestras—including singing Jessie J’s “Domino” (à la Billie Holiday) for ​Postmodern Jukebox and vocalizing “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. 

Her first release—the six-song EP All My Sweetest Dreams​—came out in September 2019. Her sophomore EP, Neccesity, was released in October 2020. 

The new album features a variety of musical styles and genres: from classic neo-soul to a psychedelic, futuristic arrangement of her favorite jazz standard, “You Don’t Know What Love Is.” 

“Jazz is not only bebop. It’s not only swing. It’s all of that, and also what is happening today,” she says. “Among people in my age group, the opinion on this really varies. But personally, I think this whole playlist and streaming culture today is awesome because people can listen—and they are listening—to all of it, to things they never would get to if they didn’t have access. Because of this, the music is evolving and something new, and creative, and extremely musical is coming out of that.”