A musical prodigy, Emily Bear is a pianist and composer who plays classical, jazz, and new age music. Born in Rockford, Illinois in 2001, Bear showed an aptitude for music at a young age and by the time she was four years old she was already studying piano at the Music Institute of Chicago. Bear has won several awards for her piano playing, including the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award and the Rockford Area Music Industry Award. She has also appeared several times on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. In 2011, she appeared live at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and the Festival Castell in Peralada, Spain, where she performed with bassist Esperanza Spalding. In 2013, Bear released her sixth album, the Quincy Jones-produced Diversity, on Concord Records.
from allmusic