Emmalie Tello

Emmalie Tello is a New York City-based clarinetist, teacher and entrepreneur. She has performed at esteemed venues including the New York City Center and several halls at Lincoln Center.Tello has served as an orchestral member in performances with the Martha Graham Dance Company and as principal clarinetist of the Mannes Orchestra and the Mannes American Composers Ensemble. She has worked with conductors including Joseph Colineri, Joann Falletta, David Hayes, among others. Tello has ample chamber music experience and has performed a variety of musical styles at venues including the Bulgarian Consulate. Currently she is a participant in the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Chamber Music Mentorship Program. 

An ardent fan of contemporary music, Tello regularly premieres new works. Highlights include the premiere and recording of Brian Riordan’s Recorded Ruins, which was awarded first prize in the UnTwelve competition for microtonal music, and the premiere of two new pieces by Lora Al-Ahmad at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. She has worked closely in contemporary orchestral and chamber environments with musicians like Alan Pierson, Madeleine Shapiro, and members of the International Contemporary Ensemble. In October 2019, she made her concerto debut under David Fulmer, performing Brian Ferneyhough's "La Chute d'Icare" with the Mannes American Composers Ensemble. Previously, she’d received an honorable mention in the 2019 Mannes Concerto Competition for “Gnarly Buttons” by John Adams. Quickly rising as a contemporary freelancer, she has performed with members of the International Contemporary Ensemble and will perform with the TALEA Ensemble in August 2020. 

Tello gained avid arts management experience working in programming and development at Concert Artists Guild, a non-profit dedicated to helping emerging artists develop careers. She was also administrator of the Alpenkammermusik Chamber Festival in the Austrian Alps, where she had previously been a performance participant. She also worked as Executive Assistant to the Director at the Festival of New Trumpet (FONT) Music and as an intern in the Major Gifts department of the American Ballet Theatre. 

Emmalie believes that every piece of music tells a story, and this has manifested through personal projects. She is co-founder of "Art Beyond the Ink," an enterprise which pairs live music with other art forms to engage audiences in musical storytelling and to deepen emotional connection and personal expression.The project, founded in 2020, soon after became a recipient of the 2020 Alsop Entrepreneurship Award. 

Passionate about education, Tello is a teaching artist at the vibrant MUSES program at Haven Academy in the Bronx, which provides music lessons to children in foster care and prevention services. She is also a substitute teacher at the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and she maintains a private studio in New York City. Tello is a graduate of the Mannes College of Music (BM Clarinet Performance ‘19), and the New School College of Performing Arts (MA Arts Management & Entrepreneurship ‘20) where she studied with Jon Manasse and David Krakauer. In August 2020, she will begin her MM in Contemporary Clarinet Performance at the Manhattan School of Music.