About

“Epic” The Guardian
“Striking” The Wire

Emily Abdy is a critically-acclaimed composer and songwriter based in the UK.

Combining the stylistic sensibilities of her classical training and gigging musician experience, her unique compositional approach has earned her performances from ensembles and soloists across the UK and overseas. Recent commissions include the London Symphony Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, Orkest de Ereprijs, Laura Sinnerton (BBC National Orchestra of Wales) and Contemporary Music For All.

She also performs her own and others’ work, from orchestral-backed screams to intimate acoustic song sets. Past venues include London’s Hackney Empire and Sheffield City Hall.

Emily was appointed an Artist In Residence with contemporary music label Nonclassical in 2021 and has since released music with them, as well as fellow London-based label NMC Recordings. Other residencies include the International Young Composers Meeting (NL), Ruhrtriennale Festival of the Arts Campus (DE) and Leeds Song Festival Composer and Poets Forum (UK).

Her media credits include her own short film, SKIN (2019), which was later commissioned as an installation for International Women’s Day in Birmingham UK. She has also produced large-scale arrangements for other artists, including the late Richard Tandy and Dave Scott-Morgan, previously of Electric Light Orchestra.

Emily holds an MMus (Distinction) and BMus (Hons, First Class) in music composition from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she was also awarded the orchestral composition prize twice, as well as the John Mayer composition prize. Her studies were supported by Universal Music UK.

She has received mentorship and attended masterclasses from renowned artists, including Errollyn Wallen MBE, Joe Cutler, Ed Bennett, Jennifer Walshe, Elizabeth Bernholz (Gazelle Twin), Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Dobrinka Tabakova, Martijn Padding, Neil Stemp (Bohemian Rhapsody), Segun Akinola (Doctor Who) and - most recently - Nandi Rose (Half Waif, Pinegrove).

Emily has lectured and mentored in composition, as well as on her screen and popular music research at established institutions such as the Institute of Popular Music and for education programmes such as the Young Composers Project.