Emily Whittaker is a freelance horn player and educator in the Chicagoland area.
Throughout her time in Chicago, Emily has played with many orchestras and ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Music of the Baroque, Omaha Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony Orchestra, Civic Symphony Orchestra, Rockford Symphony Orchestra, Peoria Symphony Orchestra, Dubuque Symphony Orchestra, and many more. In the summer, she has taken part in the Blackburn Music Academy of Festival Napa Valley and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Summer Institute.
In December 2023, Emily was seen as a soloist with the Joliet Symphony Orchestra performing Horn Concerto No. 3 in Eb Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and performed Horn Concerto No. 1 by Richard Strauss with the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra in April 2024. Emily also performed Dana Wilson’s Horn Concerto with Festival Winds at Summer Music and with the Wellington Wind Symphony in 2024.
Emily maintains a private horn studio for all ages from middle school and high school students to adults, and hosts horn studio recitals for her students regularly. In the summers Emily has been on faculty both teaching and performing at Summer Music and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. She also presents masterclasses and clinics, as well as adjudicates solos and performances across the Chicago Metropolitan area. More information about her teaching can be found here.
Born and raised in Sunshine City, Orillia, Ontario, Emily picked up the French horn when she was 17 years old and began her formal horn studies at York University. She then transferred to the University of Toronto where she graduated with a Bachelor of Music in French Horn Performance and a minor in Indigenous Studies. She moved to Chicago in 2017, and went on to earn her Masters of Music and Post-Master’s Performance Certificate at DePaul University.
Away from music, Emily loves to craft, see concerts, spend time with friends and run and spend time in the outdoors. Fun fact, Emily is a self-published author of two children’s books she wrote in 2020, Ted Loves to Sing and Ted Loves His Mask!