Emma Lacy
Emma Lacy is a jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader in Greater Boston. Emma started playing clarinet at the age of ten and alto saxophone at the age of twelve as a student in the revered Foxboro Music Program. She is now a section leader and soloist with the FHS Concert Band, Wind Ensemble, Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, and Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
She was named the top high school jazz alto saxophonist in Massachusetts through her placement in the 2021 All-State Jazz Band as a sophomore. Soon after, she started gigging in Greater Boston as a member of Beantown Swing Orchestra and The Late Risers sponsored by Boston's Downtown Crossing District. As a member of the FHS Jazz Ensemble, Emma has attended Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Competition and Festival for the past three years. She has received a total of seven soloist awards from Wynton Marsalis including Outstanding Alto Saxophonist (2021), Outstanding Clarinetist (2021, 2023), Outstanding Woodwind Doubler (2022), Outstanding Woodwind Tripler (2023), and the Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Soloist Award as the top soloist of any instrument across the nation’s best 15 jazz bands (2021, 2022). She also played lead alto in the saxophone section who received Outstanding and Honorable Mention section awards all three years.
Emma was named MVP at the Massachusetts Association for Jazz Education Southeastern Festival (2022, 2023) and State Finals (2023), and was recognized as the top soloist of the national Festivals of Music with the Foxboro Music Program last April. Emma is passionate about encouraging and empowering women in jazz and is involved with various organizations helping the cause, including Lisa Linde’s Jazzhers and Miranda Agnew’s Women of Jazz and Creative Music Curriculum Building Project. Since 2022, she has led the Emma Lacy Jazz Combo which performs at various local civic and cultural events.
In summer 2022, Emma received a full scholarship to attend Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy where she worked with Victor Goines, Ted Nash, and Rodney Whitaker among other leading jazz performers and educators. She was recently selected as a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO) Jazz program which will perform at Carnegie Hall this summer before embarking on a European tour with Sean Jones and Dee Dee Bridgewater, including a stop at Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the 2023 BBC Proms. Emma is a graduating member of the FHS class of 2023 and will be attending Columbia University with cross-registration at The Juilliard School where she will study Human Rights and Jazz Performance.
She was named the top high school jazz alto saxophonist in Massachusetts through her placement in the 2021 All-State Jazz Band as a sophomore. Soon after, she started gigging in Greater Boston as a member of Beantown Swing Orchestra and The Late Risers sponsored by Boston's Downtown Crossing District. As a member of the FHS Jazz Ensemble, Emma has attended Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington High School Competition and Festival for the past three years. She has received a total of seven soloist awards from Wynton Marsalis including Outstanding Alto Saxophonist (2021), Outstanding Clarinetist (2021, 2023), Outstanding Woodwind Doubler (2022), Outstanding Woodwind Tripler (2023), and the Ella Fitzgerald Outstanding Soloist Award as the top soloist of any instrument across the nation’s best 15 jazz bands (2021, 2022). She also played lead alto in the saxophone section who received Outstanding and Honorable Mention section awards all three years.
Emma was named MVP at the Massachusetts Association for Jazz Education Southeastern Festival (2022, 2023) and State Finals (2023), and was recognized as the top soloist of the national Festivals of Music with the Foxboro Music Program last April. Emma is passionate about encouraging and empowering women in jazz and is involved with various organizations helping the cause, including Lisa Linde’s Jazzhers and Miranda Agnew’s Women of Jazz and Creative Music Curriculum Building Project. Since 2022, she has led the Emma Lacy Jazz Combo which performs at various local civic and cultural events.
In summer 2022, Emma received a full scholarship to attend Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy where she worked with Victor Goines, Ted Nash, and Rodney Whitaker among other leading jazz performers and educators. She was recently selected as a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra (NYO) Jazz program which will perform at Carnegie Hall this summer before embarking on a European tour with Sean Jones and Dee Dee Bridgewater, including a stop at Royal Albert Hall in London as part of the 2023 BBC Proms. Emma is a graduating member of the FHS class of 2023 and will be attending Columbia University with cross-registration at The Juilliard School where she will study Human Rights and Jazz Performance.