Biography

Emma Riebe is a cellist, teacher, and creative who has created a life of sharing and creating music in her favorite place - Flagstaff, AZ. By developing a creative career filled with teaching, making, sharing, and connecting, she has been fortunate enough to create a life that allows her to play outside in the woods, get her daily hot yoga fix, and connect with the tight community that Flagstaff has to offer, all while doing what she loves - making music. 

 

Emma is a cellist who studied cello performance at the undergraduate and graduate level with teacher Mary Ann Ramos at Northern Arizona University and under Tanya Carey, Avi Friedlander, and Carey Cheney in Suzuki pedagogy. She was the winner of NAU's Concerto Competition and had the privilege of performing the Elgar Cello Concerto with their symphony orchestra. Emma is also a member of the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra and plays in various local chamber music groups, recently having the incredible opportunity to perform chamber music in the Grand Canyon on an 8-day river trip.

 

As a teacher, Emma has spent the last several years studying Suzuki Pedagogy and building up her cello studio in Flagstaff, AZ. Fueled by the relationships with her students and their families, teaching cello lessons is a bright and energizing time in her day. Emma believes that with the right mentor, environment, and hard work, becoming an artist is accessible to anyone, and holds her role in each student's journey preciously. She also enjoys her role as section coach at Flagstaff High School, where she gets to work with and develop the high school cello students.

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Emma loves crafting gorgeous moody string arrangements for other musicians. She got her start after spending the majority of her twenties in Tow'rs, an alternative folk band out of Flagstaff. A decade of touring, performing, and arranging strings forged her muscles for string production - one her favorite creative outlets. Emma likes to write string parts that bring in unexpected colors and moods, and reflect the complexities and contradictions that is being human. 

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In 2023, Emma piloted the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra's outreach program, The Lullaby Project. It is a special program that pairs pregnant women and new mothers and fathers with professional artists to write personal lullabies for their babies. Emma has worked with multiple mothers and helped them write their own personal lullabies for their children. She is now the coordinator for the project and mentors other songwriters in the process.

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You can catch Emma outside in the forest, on the ski slopes, or bending her body into weird shapes in a yoga class, almost anytime that she is not practicing, teaching, or in the studio. Her love of music is deeply intertwined with and balanced by her love of nature, sunshine, and movement. Lastly, she is beyond grateful she gets to make music in Flagstaff and hopes to keep pouring into a culture of creativity and appreciation for the arts in the place she calls home.