Jazz vocalist Emmaline to perform in center’s live virtual presentation Oct. 14

Self-styled retro jazz singer-songwriter-violinist Emmaline will make her Center for the Performing Arts debut with a live performance in your living room. The free, one-time virtual event will be streamed via social conferencing site Zoom at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Emmaline will be joined for the one-hour performance by guitarist Ryan Mondak. Visit Emmaline live stream for viewing and artist information. 

Contributions from the members of the Center for the Performing Arts and a grant from the University Park Student Fee Board help make the program free of charge. Geisinger is the 2020 “Up Close and Virtual” season sponsor.

The 22-year-old Indiana native grew up in a musical family, which sometimes performed locally as the Campbell Jazz Continuum. Emmaline later studied jazz at University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where she was the school’s only female jazz major. The big-band era, 1940s fashion, and black-and-white movies played a part in inspiring her to follow her own voice in celebration of her musical heroes Anita O’Day, Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu.

“I have been singing jazz my entire life,” Emmaline said in an interview with American Songwriter. “I studied it, and I think that there is a place for me in the jazz world.”

A loyal social media following enabled Emmaline to crowdfund her 2019 debut EP, “All My Sweetest Dreams,” a collection of six original songs she wrote or co-wrote. The same year, she opened a sold-out event for Grammy Award-winning artist Chaka Khan at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. 

She also has headlined sold-out performances at clubs such as The Jazz Standard, Blues Alley and Scullers. Emmaline has performed with big bands and orchestras, including with Postmodern Jukebox and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

She released her second EP, “Necessity,” this month.