Short Bio

Emma Mildred Cowell is a soprano, accompanist, and music historian specializing in art song, early music, and sacred music. Ms. Cowell holds degrees in Voice Performance (B.A., Geneva College) and Music History (M.M., Youngstown State University). Ms. Cowell serves on the faculty of Willamette University, as instructor of voice and repetiteur for the University’s opera program. She is Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Boulanger, a Portland-based chamber collaboration dedicated to crafting engaging lecture-recitals of music by women. She is also Minister of Music at Ascension Episcopal Parish, and a soprano with Cantores in Ecclesia. Ms. Cowell has appeared as soloist with The Bach Cantata Choir and The Oregon Chorale, and performed roles in several Gilbert & Sullivan operas with Light Opera of Portland. Recent stage appearances include roles in Ruddigore, Trial by Jury, and a portrayal of Enlightenment harpsichordist Sara Levy in The Musical Salon of Sara Levy, a concert and theater performance by the Bach Cantata Choir and Orchestra for which Ms. Cowell also served as musicological consultant and scriptwriter. As an accompanist, Ms. Cowell’s recent collaborations include projects with Ping & Woof Opera and an array of Lieder recitals with Pacific Northwest singers. Learn more at emmamildred.com.

Longer bio

Emma Cowell is a light lyric coloratura soprano, pianist, organist, conductor, and music historian specializing in art song, early music, and sacred music. Ms. Cowell earned her degree in Voice Performance from Geneva College. She earned her Master of Music degree in Music History and Literature from the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University, where her thesis explored musical settings of John Donne’s poetry. She is an Associate Artist at Willamette University, where she teaches applied voice and serves as repetiteur for the University’s opera program. She is also Minister of Music at Ascension Episcopal Parish.

In addition to studying the interplay of music and text, Ms. Cowell’s research interests include vocal music by historical women composers. She is Co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Boulanger, a Portland-based chamber collaboration dedicated to crafting and performing engaging lecture-recitals of music by women. Recent Ensemble Boulanger performances have explored the artistic circle of Pauline Viardot, music in Jane Austen’s life and times, music by Florence Price and Margaret Bonds in midcentury Chicago, and of course, music by Nadia and Lili Boulanger, the Ensemble’s namesakes.

Ms. Cowell is a dedicated choral singer and singing actor. She is a member of the Portland-based choir Cantores in Ecclesia, and has appeared both as a choral singer and soloist with The Bach Cantata Choir, the Oregon Chorale, and many other ensembles in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the Pacific Northwest. As a singing actor, Ms. Cowell specializes in comic roles and historical portrayal. Recent stage appearances include roles in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Ruddigore and Trial by Jury. A recent favorite role was Ms. Cowell’s portrayal of Sara Levy in “The Musical Salon of Sara Levy,” a concert and theater event with the Bach Cantata Choir evoking the salon of Enlightenment harpsichordist Sara Levy. In addition to portraying Levy, Ms. Cowell provided the musicological research to craft the concert’s program, and she wrote its script. 

As an accompanist, Ms. Cowell specializes in art song and continuo playing. Recent and upcoming projects include Schumann’s Liederkreis Op. 39 with tenor Esteban Zuñiga Calderon, a Lieder lecture-recital with Ping and Woof Opera featuring music by Gustav and Alma Mahler and Robert and Clara Schumann, and a program of songs by Barbara Strozzi with mezzo soprano Hannah Penn. 

Ms. Cowell directs several choirs in the Portland area. In addition to the Ascension Choir, she directs the Hausgesang Choir, a house choir Northwest Portland, and the Mary’s Woods Singers.

Learn more at emmamildred.com.