Emma Lou Diemer

Emma Lou Diemer’s music was published beginning in 1957 and ranged from hymns and songs to large chamber and orchestral works. Recordings include her Concerto in One Movement for Organ, recorded in Prague by Marilyn Mason; Concerto in One Movement for Piano, which received a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award and was also recorded in Prague by Betty Oberacker; Santa Barbara Overture, recorded by the London Symphony; String Quartet No. 1; and other orchestral, chamber, vocal, and keyboard works.

Emma Lou Diemer was a native of Kansas City, Missouri, and received her composition degrees from Yale and Eastman. She was professor emeritus at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and served as organist in various churches, most recently at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara.

Her awards included an annual ASCAP award for publications and performances beginning in 1962; a Fulbright Scholarship; a Ford Foundation grant for a composer residency in the Arlington, Virginia, schools; American Guild of Organists Composer of the Year; and many other honors and commissions.