Emma Gierszal (she/her) is the Assistant Professor of Percussion at the Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam. She has finished coursework for her DMA in Percussion Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music and holds an MM degree and an Arts Leadership Certificate also from Eastman. Her BM degree in Music Education is from Furman University.
Emma is a versatile musician dedicated to sharing new musical experiences with others. She taught the percussion studio, ran the IPEC 2022-winning percussion ensemble, and instructed World Music at Furman University in spring 2024. While in Rochester NY, she enjoyed teaching percussion at the Hochstein School of Music and served as an adjunct percussion lecturer at Nazareth University. She was frequently on stage with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra while continuing to perform with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble and her trio, 3D Percussion. Some of her notable performances have been Viet Cuong's quartet concerto, Re(new)al, in front of the Albany Symphony Orchestra and premiering Austin Keck's Evanescence with the Eastman Percussion Ensemble at the IPEA International Percussion Competition in Shanghai. Taking an interest in Rochester's local music scene, she serves as the President of the Board for the chamber ensemble, fivebyfive, and has published an Eastman Case Study about the ROCmusic Collaborative.
Emma has participated in competitive orchestral and contemporary music festivals, including the Lucerne Festival Academy in 2023, Grafenegg Academy in 2021 and 2022, the National Repertory Orchestra in 2021 (where she had the privilege of performing in front of the orchestra), and the Chautauqua Summer Music Festival in 2019. In 2018, she was honored to receive the Mary Ann Starring Memorial Award and perform at Sigma Alpha Iota's national convention.
Emma is a proud Malletech Artist.