Emma Lou Diemer (1927 - 2024)

A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Diemer received her degrees in music composition from the Yale School of Music (BM, MM) and the Eastman School of Music (Ph.D.)She studied further in Brussels on a Fuibright Scholarship and at Tanglewood. Her music has been published since 1957 and includes works for orchestra, band, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, voices, and electronic pieces. She has received annual ASCAP awards since 1962 for performances and publications. Other recognitions include a Louisville Orchestra Student Award, a Ford Foundation Young Composers Grant for a 2-year composer-residency in the Arlington, VA schools, an NEA fellowship in electronic music, a 1992 Kennedy Center Friedheim award for her Concerto in One Movement for Piano, the 1995 American Guild of Organists Composer of the Year award, a Mu Phi Epsilon Merit Award for 1995, and others. She was Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara where she taught theory and composition from 1971 to 1991, was composer-in-residence with the Santa Barbara Symphony 1990-92, and she was organist at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara from 1984 to 2000. Emma Lou Diemer passed away at the age of 96 at her home in Santa Barbara, CA.