Ty Alan Emerson is an award-winning composer whose music is known for its emotional depth, narrative drive, and collaborative spirit. Based in Cleveland, Emerson has built a body of work that spans chamber music, dance, electronic media, and interdisciplinary performance, with a focus on contemporary issues and reimagined classics.
In April 2024, the Cleveland Chamber Collective premiered Oath Breaker, an hour-long work for chamber ensemble and electronic playback that reflects on the buildup to the events of January 6, their aftermath, and the hope of renewal. Critics praised the piece for its taut structure and expressive immediacy. Other recent premieres include Discoveries (2025), The
Percussionists’ Grimoire (2025), both of which demonstrate Emerson’s versatility in writing for unconventional instrumentations and integrating electronics.
In partnership with Inlet Dance Theatre, Emerson created Caliban Ascendant (2021), a full-length ballet inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Featuring Emerson’s score performed live by the Cleveland Chamber Collective, the work was featured in the Ohio Channel documentary Creating, Community, produced by Jess Cavender, which highlighted the collaborative process behind the project. Earlier works such as Love and Other Missed-Spellings (2020) showcased Emerson’s crossover style, blending classical chamber writing with jazz idioms in performance at The Bop Stop.
Emerson’s music has been performed by a wide range of ensembles including The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, No Exit New Music Ensemble, Zeitgeist, ASSEM3LY, VERB Ballets, Quorum New Music Ensemble, and The Cleveland Duo with James Umble. Distinguished soloists such as Mary Kay Fink, John Sampen, Gary Louie, and Kirsten Taylor have also commissioned and performed his work. His compositions have been featured at major festivals and conferences including the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), New Music on the Bayou (LA), NEO Sonic New Music Festival (Cleveland), Music at the Forefront (Bowling Green State University), New Music Festival at Marshall University, the CMS/SCI National Conference in San Antonio, and the Resolution 2000 Festival at Indiana State University SE. His music has been broadcast on WCLV’s Fresh Innovations new music program, hosted by Mark Satola.
Emerson’s artistry has been recognized with numerous awards and fellowships. He is the recipient of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the Searle McCullum Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a fellowship to the MacDowell Colony. In Ohio, he has twice received Individual Excellence Awards from the Ohio Arts Council, was named MTNA/OMTA Composer of the Year in 2014, and most recently received an OAC Individual Support Grant for his large-scale percussion cycle The Percussionists’ Grimoire.
Active as a leader and advocate for new music, Emerson has been presenting concerts in Cleveland since 2000. After serving two terms as President of the Cleveland Composers’ Guild, he joined the Cleveland Chamber Collective as Project Manager and later became its Director and Conductor. Under his leadership, the ensemble has presented dozens of concerts dedicated to living American composers and premiered numerous new works by Cleveland-based artists. The ensemble’s projects have been supported by the Bascom Little Fund, Ohio Arts Council, Argosy Foundation, and Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.
Emerson’s ongoing work continues to explore the intersections of music, narrative, and community engagement. His compositions invite performers and audiences alike into sonic spaces that are at once challenging, expressive, and deeply human.
A Note from the Artist...
Curiosity drives my work as a composer. I am drawn to sounds that can be deconstructed, transformed, and reimagined — sounds that reveal new emotions, memories, and connections when placed in unfamiliar contexts. Through this process, I discover truths about myself and the world, and I believe that sharing these truths through music creates space for others to feel and reflect alongside me.
Not all truths are beautiful or comfortable, yet I see it as essential to bring them into the concert hall — a place often reserved for myth, beauty, and escape. By confronting difficult realities within this shared, sacred space, we have the chance to experience them together. In doing so, music becomes a catalyst for awareness, empathy, and compassion — a way of connecting us to our humanity and to each other.
