PRESS
SHORT BIOGRAPHY
Emanuel “Emu” Meshvinski (born 2002 in Hamburg) is a composer, conductor and cultural entrepreneur. Raised in a Russian-Jewish family of musicians, he found his own way into classical music through film scores. His work combines orchestral sound worlds with jazz, ambient, techno, film and theatre and has been heard at the Sundance and Locarno Film Festivals. He collaborates with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and the junge norddeutsche philharmonie, performing artists including Iris Berben and John Neumeier, and electronic artists such as Natascha Polke.
Since 2021, he has led the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Hamburg, developing new concert formats between the Elbphilharmonie, club culture and social dialogue, always with the aim of creating music that connects people and enables new encounters.
MEDIUM BIOGRAPHY
Emanuel “Emu” Meshvinski (born 2002 in Hamburg) is a composer, conductor and cultural entrepreneur. He grew up in a family of musicians, yet initially wanted little to do with classical music, which he found rigid and boring. That changed with Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Hans Zimmer’s score became a defining experience: orchestral music that was grand, immediate and emotional without feeling dated. Emu began composing, contrary to his father’s expectation that he should become a classical violinist.
He studied viola at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg, as well as composition in Hamburg and at Zurich University of the Arts. He received conducting tuition from, among others, Iwan Wassilewski and Johannes Schläfli. His artistic identity emerged at the intersections of concert music, film, theatre and electronic music.
As a composer, Emu combines orchestral sound worlds with jazz, ambient, techno and contemporary production. His music has been heard at the Sundance Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival. In 2023, he received the ESTA Switzerland composition prize for his Romance for String Orchestra; recordings have been made with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra and for Swiss radio, among others.
As a conductor, Emu understands conducting as a shared responsibility built on trust, clarity and communication.
He conducts in jeans and trainers, speaks to audiences and tells the stories behind the music, not to simplify it, but to remove barriers to access.
The most formative decision of his life so far came after the death of his father, Pjotr Meshvinski. His parents had founded the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Hamburg in 2018. While studying in Zurich, Emu took over its leadership after much hesitation and, together with a small core team, developed the orchestra into a laboratory for contemporary Jewish culture. Today, it combines classical music with film, electronic music, education and social dialogue, performing in the Elbphilharmonie as well as in clubs, churches, schools and theatres.
As a cultural entrepreneur, Emu develops new formats at the intersections of art, technology and audience development. He wants to open up new stages for young artists and free classical music from its familiar rituals without sacrificing its quality and depth. After a sold-out concert at the Elbphilharmonie, a friend asked him: “Come on, Emu! What could possibly come next?” Perhaps that is precisely what drives him. For Emu, composer, conductor and cultural entrepreneur are not separate roles, but three perspectives on the same task: creating music that connects people and enables new encounters.
LONG BIOGRAPHY
Emanuel “Emu” Meshvinski (born 2002 in Hamburg) is a composer, conductor and cultural entrepreneur. He grew up in a family of musicians, yet wanted little to do with classical music. His mother played the violin, his father the cello; at home, Russian was spoken, rehearsals took place and music was argued about. Emu experienced the classical music world as rigid, ritualised and far removed from his own life.
That changed when he saw Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar. Hans Zimmer’s score became a defining experience: orchestral music that was grand, immediate and emotional without feeling dated. It showed him that music could be complex, popular and deeply moving at the same time. Emu began composing, contrary to his father’s expectation that he should become a classical violinist.
He studied viola at the University of Music and Theatre Hamburg, as well as composition in Hamburg and at Zurich University of the Arts. He received conducting tuition from, among others, Iwan Wassilewski and Johannes Schläfli. His education gave him the craft; his artistic identity emerged at the intersections of concert music, film, theatre and electronic culture.
As a composer, Emu combines orchestral power and chamber-music precision with jazz, ambient, techno and contemporary production. He works with ensembles such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich as well as with DJs and live acts including MIYAGI and Natascha Polke. He is less interested in genre than in music’s emotional force. His work has been heard at the Sundance Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival. In 2023, he received the ESTA Switzerland composition prize for his Romance for String Orchestra; recordings have been made with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra and for Swiss radio, among others.
As a conductor, Emu does not understand conducting as a display of power, but as a shared responsibility. He wants to provide direction and create spaces in which musicians develop new confidence and contribute their own strengths. This is also why he questions traditions of the classical music world: he conducts in jeans and trainers, speaks to audiences and tells the stories behind the music, not to simplify it, but to remove barriers to access. For Emu, musical precision and virtuosity do not arise through intimidation, but through clarity, communication and a shared understanding of the story being told. His artistic partners include the junge norddeutsche philharmonie, pianist Levi Schechtmann, actress Iris Berben and choreographer John Neumeier.
The most formative decision of his life so far came after the death of his father, Pjotr Meshvinski. In 2018, his parents had founded the Jewish Chamber Orchestra Hamburg. When his father died in 2021, the question arose whether the orchestra would end with him. At the time, Emu was studying in Zurich and beginning to build a life of his own as a composer. After much hesitation, he took over the orchestra’s leadership. He wanted to continue his father’s work, but not to copy it.
Together with a three-person core team, he developed the orchestra into a laboratory for contemporary Jewish culture, combining classical and electronic sounds, film, theatre, improvisation, humour, education and social dialogue. It brings neglected Jewish composers back to the stage, develops new concert narratives and performs in the Elbphilharmonie as well as in clubs, churches, schools and theatres. Beyond this, Emu develops new formats and structures as a cultural entrepreneur at the intersections of art, technology, audience development and social impact. He wants to create platforms that give young artists stages of their own and open up new paths.
After a sold-out concert at the Elbphilharmonie, which the Hamburger Abendblatt described as a “brilliant world premiere”, a friend asked him: “Come on, Emu! What could possibly come next?” Emu has no definitive answer. Perhaps that is precisely what drives him. He wants to write original music for international films. He wants to conduct, produce and tour with exciting programmes that combine concert music, history, the present, storytelling and humour. He wants to free classical music from its familiar rituals without sacrificing its quality and depth. And he wants to show that artistic ambition, conviction and social responsibility can be compatible with a healthy life that does not depend on self-exploitation.
For Emu, composer, conductor and cultural entrepreneur are not separate roles, but three perspectives on the same task: creating music that enables encounters between people who would otherwise rarely meet within the classical music world.