Emily Sheppard
Emily Sheppard is a trailblazing multi-genre composer, performer and curator. Trained at Australia’s premier classical music institution, the Australian National Academy of Music, where she specialised in violin, she has since expanded her practice to include Irish traditional music, Réunion Island Maloya, and Manouche. She has performed with musicians including Paul Kelly, Katie Noonan, Michael Kieran Harvey, James Crabb and Seckou Keita, as well as the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Chamber Orchestra Collective.
Emily is a specialist in cross-genre composition and arrangement, regularly collaborating with musicians of diverse backgrounds to bridge notated and aural traditions. Her work pushes musical boundaries, inviting performers to explore new aspects of their playing, often incorporating improvisation, scordatura, and singing while playing. Her compositions have been performed throughout Australia, the U.S., the U.K. and Europe at venues including Wigmore Hall, Utzon Room and the Melbourne Recital Centre.
She co-composes with Yyan Ng (guitar, taiko, shakuhachi, sanshin), blending Classical, Celtic Folk and Traditional Japanese music. They tour as Where Water Meets, and their music has been performed by chamber groups and orchestras including the Bowerbird Collective, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School Orchestra (wherewatermeets.com).
Where Water Meets have also worked extensively as science communicators, creating ‘Imagining lutruwita’s Deep Time: A Journey through Science, Art and Song’ with paleoecologist Penelope Jones and artist Amy Jackett, presented by Birch’s Bay Art Farm (2021), and The Unconformity (2021). They have pioneered the world's first eel-skin instruments, presented at ‘Searching for the Eel Song’ for TEDx Hobart (2023), ABC Artworks (2024) and as featured artists at the Lake Bolac Eel Festival (2024).
Alongside her performance work, Emily is passionate about ergonomic-first approaches to violin playing and teaching, including the collaborative development of innovative violin straps designed to expand options for physical freedom and give more options for players of different genres and body types (strappymusic.com).
Emily curates bespoke events that facilitate deep listening, immersion and awe. Highlights include performances in Hastings Caves and a sunrise performance on kunanyi / Mount Wellington in nipaluna/Hobart. She has produced performances and tours for local, interstate and international artists including Simangavole (REU), The Magic Lantern (UK), Shark and Fox (CAN/AUS), Joseph Tawadros and Ashkan Shafiei (AUS). Emily is currently collaborating with immersive media artist Drew Stansbury on a new Dolby Atmos studio in Nipaluna/Hobart called Studio Anarres (studioanarres.com).
