ABOUT

Emily is a violist in New York City praised for her “elegantly rendered” (The New York Times) and "masterful interpretation" (I Care if You Listen) of contemporary repertoire. Most recently, she just got out of the studio recording David Byrne’s new album with the Ghost Train Orchestra for a 2025 release. She was a soloist on the world premiere recording of Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti's with eyes the color of time, a 2022 Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music featured on the String Orchestra of Brooklyn’s second album, enfolding. Bookwalter is a current member of the ALTA String Quartet, as well as Brian Carpenter's award-winning groups: the Ghost Train Orchestra and Beat Circus, with whom she has toured internationally. Bookwalter has been a guest artist at the New Harmony Music Festival, Celebrate Brooklyn! Summer Festival, the Lake George Jazz Festival, the Dumbo Arts Festival, has served as artist-in-residence at the Berkeley Repertory Theater’s Ground Floor Residency Lab, and has performed in some of NYC’s favorite venues including Carnegie Hall, the new Whitney Museum, Roulette, Le Poisson Rouge, SubCulture, Jalopy Theater, Highline Ballroom, ISSUE Project Room, Shapeshifter Lab, and more.

Never one to shy away from a weird time, Emily has modeled and performed for the launch of Coach's 1941 clothing line, performed for the launch of Harry Winston Jewelers new designs, performed during fashion week for the debut of a mushroom burial suit, has been featured playing on-screen in the commercial for GMC's Arcadia SUV, and regularly blends the line between visual art and sound in her work. As a true believer in new music, she has appeared on numerous independent albums as a violist and a vocalist for Beat Circus, the Ghost Train Orchestra, The String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Chet Lam, Boy Girl Party, Shouthouse, Alex Goldberg, and others. She is an Executive Producer for the String Orchestra of Brooklyn’s debut album, afterimage.

During the day, Bookwalter has recently returned as the Director of Development at Roulette; a position she also held from 2017-2021, and where she also served on the board in the interim. She is the former Director of External Affairs at The New Group, is the former Executive Director of New Amsterdam Presents and Records, is a founding [now retired] board member for the String Orchestra of Brooklyn, and spent four years working as Grantmaking and Community Manager at New Music USA, formerly Meet the Composer, where she started her career of fundraising and connecting people and resources around mission-driven work. She consults for arts non-profits on a project-by-project basis, and can be contacted via linkedin for consulting work.