EJ Donkin is a Northeast Ohio jazz, classical, and contemporary composer and pianist focused on creating evocative, rhythmically-inventive music.  A 2021 Fellow of the Alba Music Festival Composition Program, and a featured composer at the 2021and 2023 International Trombone Festival Composer’s Workshop, she has composed music for solo instrumentalists, chamber ensembles, wind ensembles, jazz ensembles, and has collaborated with musicians both in the U.S. and internationally in Canada and Italy.

She has worked with performers and ensembles such as Transient Canvas, the Western Reserve Wind Band, Daniel Ramjattan, the Danjo Jazz Orchestra, Naoko Tsujita, the W.D. Packard Band, Tria Corazon, and Hub New Music among others. Her musical influences and compositions range from jazz, funk, and progressive rock to neoclassical and solo piano music.  In 2020, she completed a 35-minute choir cantata centered on the crucifixion of Christ for Portage Community Chapel’s Tenebrae Service (which was postponed due to the events of 2020).  She has been a featured composer in the Cleveland Local 4 Fund “She Scores” concert series, and was a featured local artist in the 2018 Sundance Film Music Festival in Akron, OH. 

Emma received her B.M. in Music Composition in 2018, and her M.M. from the University of Akron in 2021.  She studied under Dr. David Morgan (composition) and Dr. Caroline Oltmanns (piano), and Dr. Jamie Wilding at the University of Akron (M.M.).

She resides on the border of the wilds of Appalachia.