Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, in 1999, she has since expanded her professional career from the United States to Europe and the United Kingdom. A distinguished competition winner, she was awarded the Barbirolli Prize at the Tertis International Viola Competition in 2019 and won the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition in 2017. These early successes were pivotal in launching her international career. In recognition of her exceptional talent, she received the Wilo Foundation Prize in 2021, which continues to support her development as a soloist. These prestigious awards paved the way for a multifaceted career featuring concerts, recitals, and chamber music performances throughout Europe and beyond.

She has a particular passion for expanding the viola repertoire: In 2021, the label Champs-Hills Records released her highly acclaimed debut album, “The Viennese Viola,” featuring rare Austrian works for viola, which she recorded with pianist Albert Cano Smit. The album was praised by critics for its innovative programming and profound interpretation. In 2024, she expanded her discography with a recording (to be released) of Alfred Schnittke’s “Concerto for Three” alongside Gidon Kremer, Magdalena Ceple, and the Kremerata Baltica.

In addition to solo performances with orchestras such as the Kremerata Baltica, the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen, the Folkwang Chamber Orchestra, and the French Chamber Orchestra, she places particular emphasis on creative programming for her solo and chamber concerts. She is passionate about arranging works originally written for other instruments—such as the cello, violin, or voice—for the viola. In the 2024/25 season, she made her debut with her own arrangement of Schumann’s Cello Concerto.

In addition, Emma Wernig has been the violist of the award-winning Doric String Quartet since 2024. The renowned London-based quartet has already made numerous recordings exclusively for the Chandos label and enjoys an international reputation for dynamic performances and innovative programs. Upcoming projects include a complete Beethoven cycle at Wigmore Hall, as well as international concerts in the United States, Japan, Australia, and other overseas tours. Contributing her unique voice to these ambitious projects and further strengthening the quartet’s distinguished presence in the world of chamber music is a musical challenge she is particularly looking forward to.

Collaborating with numerous renowned musicians such as Janine Jansen, Gidon Kremer, Lynn Harrell, Steven Isserlis, and Christian Tetzlaff has significantly shaped her career, which has also received invaluable impetus from appearances at festivals such as the Verbier Festival, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the BBC Proms, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Edinburgh Festival, the Grachtenfestival, the Grafenegg Festival, Krzyżowa-Music, the Gezeitenkonzerte, and the Vevey Spring Classic Festival.

In 2024, she served as principal violist of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra and participated in the recording of Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” under the baton of Fabio Luisi for Deutsche Grammophon. She is also a regular guest principal violist with the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, where she studied with Paul Coletti, and her master’s degree with Ettore Causa at the Yale School of Music, where her thesis was awarded the Lucy Grosvenor Memorial Prize. She subsequently completed a second master’s degree with Tabea Zimmermann at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Emma Wernig plays a viola made in 2019 by New York luthier Jason Viseltear. She currently lives in London.