Emily Howard is one of the UK ‘s most exciting and strikingly individual composers, writing music that is notable for its rich, expansive orchestral textures, imaginative use of instrumental colour, and powerful use of text. Howard’s works often take their inspiration from the shapes, structures, and phenomena of the natural world, as well as from literature, politics, and the visual arts.
A fascination with the raw power of the human voice, and a desire to explore its full potential through the extremities of both pitch and dynamic range can be heard in Howard's vocal works such as Elliptics (2022), a meditation on love and death, and what we hope will survive; and the sci-fi chamber opera To See The Invisible (2018), commissioned by and premiered at Aldeburgh Festival.
Howard is Professor in Composition and Head of Artistic Research at the Royal Northern College of Music, and is a founder-director of PRiSM, the Royal Northern College of Music’s Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music, dedicated to understanding what it means to be human and creative today.

Emily Howard has received two BASCA British Composer Awards, recognition from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and in 2023 was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts, one of only a handful of composers to ever hold this title.