Emily Jordan Bear (born August 30, 2001) is an American composer and pianist. After beginning to play the piano and compose music as a small child, Bear made her professional piano debut at the Ravinia Festival at the age of five, the youngest performer ever to play there. She gained wider notice from a series of appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show beginning at the age of six. She has since played her own compositions and other works with orchestras and ensembles in North America, Europe and Asia, including appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Montreux Jazz Festival and Jazz Open Stuttgart. She won two Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, the youngest person ever to win the award, and also won two Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Awards.
In 2013, Bear released an album of her own jazz compositions, Diversity, produced by her mentor and manager, Quincy Jones. She composes and plays classical, jazz and pop music, film and TV scores, and is heard on the 2015 Broadway cast recording of the musical Doctor Zhivago. With her own jazz trio, she released an EP, Into the Blue, in 2017. She was the youngest performer in the history of the Night of the Proms tour (2017). Her 2019 EP Emotions was her first to feature Bear singing her own songs. In 2021, she and Abigail Barlow co-wrote and released an album inspired by the Netflix series Bridgerton, titled The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, making Bear the youngest Grammy nominee and winner ever in the musical theater category. She was listed on Forbes 2022 30 Under 30. With the 2023 release of Dog Gone, she became "the youngest person to score a feature film for release on a streaming platform".
In mid-2023, Bear toured as the featured pianist for Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour. Barlow and Bear wrote songs for the Disney animated film Moana 2 (2024).
Early life Bear was born and raised in Rockford, Illinois, the youngest of three children of Brian Bear, an orthopedic surgeon, and Andrea Bear.Levine, Doug. "Musical Prodigy Emily Bear Wows Audiences Worldwide", Voice of America, May 31, 2013 Her mother has sung professionally and has a music education degree.Caputo, Mike. "Piano-playing prodigy", LIHerald.com, November 15, 2007, accessed December 15, 2016Davydovich, Alex. "Generation Z: Interview with Emily Bear", Piano Performer Magazine, March 22, 2017, Spring Issue 2017, Vol. 5 After being home-schooled for a few years, Bear enrolled in Guilford High School in Rockford in 2015, graduating at age 15 in 2017.Rockford Public Schools "Graduations 2017: Guilford High School" at 37:07, YouTube, May 30, 2017Hradecky, Maggie. "815: Emily Bear finds harmony at home in Rockford", Rockford Register Star, September 4, 2016; Dayton, Kels. "13-year old Emily Bear is already a world-class pianist and composer" , News8, WTNH.com, October 15, 2014, accessed December 15, 2016
When Bear was two years old, her grandmother Merle Langs Greenberg, a piano teacher, recognized her talent at the piano.WGN News. "The Next Mozart?", YouTube, May 15, 2008 By age three, she had composed her first song, "Crystal Ice".Purgahn, Chelsea. "14-year-old piano prodigy playing the Gilmore Festival has a story to tell", Mlive.com, May 11, 2016 The next year, Bear began to study with Emilio del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago. Hal Leonard Music has been publishing Bear's original compositions since she was 4 years old. She made her professional piano debut at the Ravinia Festival at age five, the youngest performer to play there.Arco, Paul Anthony. "Rockford's Emily Bear: Pianist, Composer & Kid", Northwest Quarterly, Winter 2014, accessed December 12, 2016"Emily Bear Trio: Thirteen Year-Old Composer/Pianist Phenom – About Emily Bear", Dakotacooks.com, March 12, 2015, accessed May 16, 2022 Soon she was enrolled at the Winnetka campus to study classical music. At age six, in 2008, she won her first ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award for her piece "Northern Lights", the youngest composer ever to win the award.Wigmore, Mark. "Emily Bear – Canadian Solo debut" , BravoNiagara.org, May 2016 She also won the Rockford Area Music Industry Outstanding Achievement Award (RAMI) that year.Braun, Georgette. "Pianist, 6, takes top RAMI Award", The Rockford Register Star, June 28, 2007, accessed December 31, 2018
As a small child, Bear made six appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show."Rockford piano prodigy, 6, featured today on Ellen", Rockford Register Star, April 25, 2008, accessed December 31, 2018 She played in 2008 at the White House for President George W. Bush, at the age of six,Braun, Georgette. "Hugs all around at White House for piano prodigy", WickedLocal.com, March 25, 2008, accessed December 16, 2016 and performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra at the age of seven.Emily Bear resume, ASCAP.com, 2013, accessed December 12, 2016 She performed the same piece later in 2008 with the Rockford Symphony Orchestra. She also participated that year at the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in ChicagoBraun, Georgette. "Rockford piano prodigy to play role in Thanksgiving parade", Rockford Register Star, November 26, 2008, accessed December 15, 2016 and performed the next year on Good Morning America."Emily Bear Back In National Spotlight" , MyStateline.com, June 15, 2009, accessed December 16, 2016 By the age of eight, Bear had composed more than 350 pieces,"Buy Emily Bear's Songs!", The Ellen DeGeneres Show, March 10, 2010, accessed May 17, 2009 and between 2007 and 2010, she released five albums of her piano music."Emily Bear: Discography", AllMusic, accessed 6 October 2021
From the age of six, Bear studied classical piano with the former principal keyboardist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Mary Sauer,San Gabino, Michael. "Pianist Mary Sauer Retires from Chicago Symphony Orchestra After 57 Years of Service", WFMT.com, November 8, 2016, accessed December 11, 2016 and later with Veda Kaplinsky, head of the piano department at the Juilliard School. She studied jazz improvisation with Frank Kimbrough and composing with Ron Sadoff, head of NYU Steinhardt film scoring department. She expressed a strong interest in film scoring,Ragogna, Mike. "Diversity: A Conversation with Emily Bear...", The Huffington Post, May 7, 2013, accessed December 14, 2016 and in 2013 she was the youngest composer in history to attend the NYU Steinhardt Film Scoring Workshop."Ron Sadoff Featured in WGN-TV Documentary on Emily Bear, Girl with a Gift" , New York University, July 8, 2016
Career
2010 to 2012: Carnegie Hall debut and festival performances In 2010, Bear made her Carnegie Hall debut at the age of 9, playing her own piece for orchestra and chorus, "Peace: We Are the Future"."Tim Janis: The American Christmas Carol" , Carnegie Hall, December 2, 2010, accessed January 4, 2018 The same year, she performed on the television show Dancing with the Stars."Emily Bear Performs on Dancing with the Stars" , MyStateline.com, November 9, 2010, accessed December 11, 2016
In 2011, at the 3rd PTTOW! Youth Media and Innovation Summit in California addressed by the Dalai Lama, Bear performed her song "Diversity", which she had written in honor of the Dalai Lama."His Holiness Speaks on Human Rights Awareness and Compassion at Two California Universities" , DalaiLama.com, May 5, 2011; and "Nation's Top Marketers to Join Special Keynote Speaker, His Holiness The XIV Dalai Lama At Third Annual PTTOW! Youth Media And Innovation Summit" , TheStreet.com, April 26, 2011, accessed December 16, 2016 The same year, she began working with Quincy Jones, who became her mentorMcKinley, James C. Jr. "Latest Quincy Jones Hyphenate? Manager", The New York Times, May 21, 2013, accessed December 13, 2016Biography , emilybear.com, accessed September 29, 2013 and manager.Avila. Daniela. "Meet Barlow & Bear: The Grammy-Winning Musical Duo Behind the Moana 2 Soundtrack", People, September 27, 2024 He presented Bear at the 45th Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the Festival Castell at the Peralada Castle in Spain, where she performed her original song, "Peralada", and a trio with Esperanza Spalding and Andrea Motis."Quincy Jones y Global Gumbo hacen vibrar a Peralada" , Lasprovincias.es, July 21, 2011, accessed June 3, 2017 (in Spanish); "The Official New York CD Release Party for Emily Bear's Debut Record Diversity", (Le) Poisson Rouge, July 2013, accessed June 3, 2017 Later in 2011, she appeared with him at the Hollywood Bowl, where she played a medley of her own arrangement, "Bumble Boogie" and accompanied "Miss Celie's Blues", from The Color Purple, sung by Gloria Estefan, Patti Austin, Siedah Garrett and Nikki Yanofsky.Katz, Michael. "Live Music: Quincy Jones' Global Gumbo All Stars at the Hollywood Bowl", Nathan East, September 9, 2011, accessed December 12, 2016 Jones stated: "I am at once astounded and inspired by the enormous talent that Emily embodies [with] the ability to seamlessly move from Classical to Jazz and Be-bop." Bear returned to Carnegie Hall at the end of the year.
In 2012, she performed as a guest in Zurich, Switzerland, on the "Art on Ice" skating arena tour before an audience of 15,000.Veronique. "Art on Ice 2012: spectacular, a must see show", Vivamost.com, February 8, 2012, accessed December 12, 2016; Emily Bear , Joe's Pub, October 16, 2015, accessed December 12, 2016; and "Art on Ice 2012 – Florent Amodio & Emily Bear" , Art on Ice: Shows, accessed December 12, 2016 She also performed at the Life Ball 2012 gala in Vienna, Austria,"Der heißeste Ball des Jahres", Madonna, May 18, 2012, accessed December 15, 2016 (German language) to benefit the charity AIDS Life."Life Ball: Steinway Flügel werden versteigert", Vienna.at, June 6, 2012, accessed December 15, 2016 (German language) Later in 2012, she played the first movement of the Schumann piano concerto in A minor with the Santa Fe Concert Association. At this concert, the orchestra also debuted her composition "Santa Fe" and performed her arrangement of "Satin Doll".Van Cleve, Emily. "Solo show ideal for Broadway lovers", Albuquerque Journal, December 16, 2012, accessed December 8, 2016 She returned to perform with the same orchestra two years later.
2013 to 2016: Diversity In 2013, Bear released Diversity, an album of original jazz compositions, on the Concord Records label, with bassist Carlitos del Puerto, drummer Francisco Mela and cellist Zuill Bailey, led by Bear at the piano."Emily Bear – Klein, aber oho" , Jazz Echo, July 26, 2013, accessed December 14, 2016 (German language) It was produced by Jones and recorded at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles.Collar, Matt. Diversity, Allmusic.com, accessed December 14, 2016 The album peaked at No. 5 on Billboards Jazz Albums chartJazz Albums for the week dated June 1, 2013, Billboard.com, accessed February 7, 2017 and No. 3 on its Traditional Jazz Albums chart.Traditional Jazz Albums, Billboard, June 1, 2013, accessed December 10, 2016 Jeff Tamarkin wrote for JazzTimes: Bear is a gifted (if not quite virtuosic yet) pianist ... who understands innately the role of her instrument in both solo and group capacities. She can improvise smartly, shift between genres, tempos and dispositions effortlessly, elevate a melody. ... [T]here's nothing childlike about Bear's music: While some of her classically informed ballads teeter on the edge of new age, she never quite falls into that hole; she already knows the difference between jazz and Muzak. With many super-talented children, there's often a sense that some sort of rote mechanism takes over and guides them, but Diversity feels like the work of an artist of depth and sensitivity."Tamarkin, Jeff. "Emily Bear: Diversity", JazzTimes, July 31, 2013, accessed December 13, 2016