Emily Ilyes

Violinist Dr. Emily Ilyes began her music studies at an early age and is quickly establishing a career as both a soloist and educator. She has performed in prestigious venues across the United States, including the Japanese Ambassador’s Residence in Washington, D.C., The Grand Ole Opry and the Kennedy Center. Emily has also performed internationally in Argentina Ireland, and Japan.  

Emily currently serves as the Principal Second Violin position with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra in Johnstown, PA, and is a member of the First Violin Section with the Roanoke Symphony in Roanoke, VA, where she has also served as acting Assistant Concertmaster and acting Principal Second Violin.

In addition to her orchestral experience, Emily is also the core first violinist of Chrysalis Chamber Players, a string quartet with international trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden. The group has performed coast to coast throughout the United States. As an avid soloist, Emily made her orchestral soloist debut at the age of 15 performing J.S. Bach’s Concerto in E major. In the fall of 2023, Emily won first prize in the graduate division of the Student Soloist Competition at Shenandoah Conservatory and performed the first movement of Jean Sibelius’ Concerto in D minor with the Shenandoah Conservatory Symphony Orchestra.

In 2022, she won first place in the Virginia MTNA Young Artist Performance Competition with her performance of Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major. She has also performed John Corigliano’s Red Violin Concerto with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra and Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor with the York Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Most recently, Emily performed as a soloist for the College Music Society’s MidAtlantic Conference at Virginia State University in March of 2026. In addition to her career as a soloist, Emily is also passionate about music education. She is a member of the music faculty at Longwood University as the Assistant Professor of Strings where she teaches violin, viola and directs the university’s Chamber Orchestra.

Emily has also taught as a string orchestra teacher in public and private schools throughout Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Texas. She is a sought-after orchestral clinician and adjudicator throughout the state of Virginia. Emily holds two Bachelor of Music degrees from West Virginia University, where she majored in both music education and violin performance. While at WVU, she was invited to perform in masterclasses with world-renowned violinists such as Ray Chen and Midori and studied under the direction of Dr. Mikylah Myers.

After graduating from WVU, she accepted a full-tuition scholarship and a teaching assistantship at Texas Christian University where she earned her master’s degree in 2021 and studied with Dr. Elisabeth Adkins, former assistant concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra. Emily earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Shenandoah Conservatory, where she received a post-master’s degree scholarship at the highest level, and studied with Dr. Akemi Takayama.  

Emily currently performs on a 1769 Giuseppe Gagliano violin and a Ron Forrester bow on a generous loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation.