Emma Gierszal is a percussionist, educator, and arts leader living in Rochester, NY. While earning her doctorate at the Eastman School of Music, she teaches percussion at the Hochstein School of Music and is president of the board for the new music ensemble, fivebyfive. She may also be found performing with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
Emma’s passion for promoting new music began with the John Psathas Percussion Project, a multi-year recording project led by her undergraduate professor, Omar Carmenates. In 2022, Emma performed Viet Cuong’s new concerto, Re(new)al for percussion quartet in front of the Albany Symphony Orchestra. Emma appears in premiere recordings of Michael Burritt’s, spero and Iunctio and John Psathas’ Koolish Zein, and in 2023 commissioned and recorded Austin Keck’s Evanescence as a co-founder of the trio 3D Percussion. Emma has attended summer festivals including the Lucerne Festival Academy (2023), Grafenegg Academy (2021, 2022), National Repertory Orchestra (2021) where she performed in front of the orchestra, and the Chautauqua Summer Music Festival (2019). In 2018 she won the Mary Ann Starring Memorial Award and performed at Sigma Alpha Iota’s national convention.
Emma holds an M.M. degree in Percussion Performance and Literature and an Arts Leadership Certificate from Eastman as well as a B.M. degree in Music Education from Furman University in Greenville, SC. Emma Gierszal is a proud Malletech artist.
School of Music Responsibilities
Education