Emily Wells, gift well received

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Janet Clarke

from Victor Santiago, North Reading Room

While listening to NPR one day, I heard an interview with a woman named Emily Wells. Emily is musician with the rare ability to transcend the genres of Classical music and Hip Hop. As I listened to her talk I learned of her training as a classical violinist and her philosophy of music. The snippets of her music woven into the interview intrigued me, especially her rendition of the Notorious BIG’s Juicy. I liked the idea of creating legitimate classical pieces with the spirit of Hip Hop, as opposed to the ‘cut and paste’ sampling of classical pieces stitched into Hip Hop beats. I thought it would make a great addition to our Library’s music collection; a perfect bridge between two very different worlds.

After explaining to Gisele Schierhorst, Head of SBU’s Music Library, that happenstance had given me the good fortune to come across a rather uniquely gifted artist, an effort was made to buy the album for the library. I contacted Emily’s management to arrange the purchase of the album… and was later informed that Emily generously donated the album. We do thank Emily for the gift and hope as many people as possible get a chance to hear her compositions. Seriously, check it out.