Emma Lou Diemer

Missouri native Emma Lou Diemer (November 24, 1927–June 2, 2024) was born into a musical family and had begun her early compositions at the age of 5. Throughout her elementary and high school years her performance studies continued and her interest in composition intensified, and she attended the Eastman School of Music and the Yale School of Music, receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Composition from the latter and her Ph.D. from the former. Diemer’s education exposed her to some of classical’s great minds, placing her under the tutelage of Hindemith, Gant, Sessions, and many more.

In addition to her activity as a composer and performer, Diemer was a longtime educator across the United States. During her tenure at UCSB, she was instrumental in the founding of the electronic/computer music program, as well as the doctoral degrees in composition.

She taught in several colleges and was organist at several churches in the Kansas City area during the 1950s. From 1959–1961 she was composer-in-residence in the Arlington VA schools under the Ford Foundation Young Composers Project, and composed many choral and instrumental works for the schools, a number of which are still in publication. She was consultant for the MENC Contemporary Music Project before joining the faculty of the University of Maryland where she taught composition and theory from 1965–1970. In 1971 she moved from the East Coast to teach composition and theory at the University of California, Santa Barbara. At UCSB she was instrumental in founding the electronic/computer music program, and in 1991 she became Professor Emeritus.

Through the years she fulfilled many commissions (orchestral, chamber ensemble, keyboard, choral, vocal) from schools, churches, and professional organizations. Most of her works are published. She received awards from Yale University (Certificate of Merit), The Eastman School of Music (Edward Benjamin Award), the National Endowment for the Arts (electronic music project), Mu Phi Epsilon (Certificate of Merit), the Kennedy Center Friedheim Awards (for piano concerto), the American Guild of Organists (Composer of the Year), the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers/ASCAP (annually since 1962 for performances and publications), the Santa Barbara Symphony (composer-in-residence, 1990–1992), the University of Central Missouri (honorary doctorate), and many others.

She was an active keyboard performer (piano, organ, harpsichord, synthesizer), and presented concerts of her own music at Washington National Cathedral, St. Mary’s Cathedral and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, and elsewhere.

A proponent of Gebrauchsmusik and the provision of original works to non-professional performers, Diemer believed that composers should have the freedom to write imaginative and compelling music in a variety of genres not only for advanced musicians, but also for those in earlier stages of development.