Paul Emmett

Paul Emmett is a composer, conductor, arranger, and music educator based in the East Midlands.

His work brings together practical musicianship, clear communication, and a strong belief that music should connect with both performers and audiences. He writes and arranges for choirs, orchestras, brass bands, chamber groups, theatre projects, and media, with a particular interest in music that is expressive, performable, and shaped around the people who will bring it to life.

As a composer, Paul’s music ranges from choral and chamber works to brass band, orchestral, and electroacoustic pieces. His composition Paper Isles was performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra at Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham, as part of a University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University project.

Alongside composition, Paul is developing a growing conducting profile across wind band, orchestral, choral, and theatre settings. His conducting work is grounded in preparation, collaboration, and a practical understanding of how ensembles rehearse and perform. He is especially interested in working with community, amateur, educational, and semi-professional groups, helping performers produce confident, expressive, and well-shaped performances.

After many years working professionally in music, Paul returned to formal study at the University of Nottingham, where he developed his voice as a composer and expanded his work with orchestration, synthesis, electronics, and extended instrumental techniques. This period helped bring together the many strands of his musical life into a clearer focus: composing, conducting, arranging, and helping others make music at their best.

Paul is now focused on building a body of work as a composer and conductor, creating music for real performers and real occasions, and collaborating with ensembles, festivals, schools, and organisations on projects that are ambitious, practical, and human.