Emily Hu, cello

Nightjar co-founder and co-director Emily Hu is a native Seattleite who believes that music is best enjoyed among friends and loved ones. She enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral cellist, chamber musician, and recitalist, performing regularly with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, and the 5th Avenue Theater, as well as with her duo partner of twenty years, pianist Thomas Lee. She is a former member of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and has appeared at the Oregon Bach Festival and the Bellingham Festival of Music, along with many other ensembles throughout the Pacific Northwest and across the country. Emily is happiest as a chamber musician and has collaborated in recital with artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, and Alban Gerhardt, but her favorite collaborators are the extraordinary local artists that she’s lucky enough to count as members of the Nightjar family. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she studied with Norman Fischer, and a Master’s degree from Northwestern University, where she was a student of Hans Jorgen Jensen. She splits her time between West Seattle and Queens, New York, and is an avid cook, dedicated weight lifter, fair-weather hiker, and late-night Netflix marathoner.