Music composer, orchestral arranger, session musician, and consultant for recording artists, producers, concert ensembles in multiple branches of the music industry.

Emanuel Serra is a composer, orchestral arranger, and session musician for recording artists, producers, and concert ensembles. Some of his clients have included pop band MIR, DJ Jorun Bombay, traditional band Beolach and the late Celtic music star John Allan Cameron. 

Emanuel has earned seven film credits, including improvisational singing the thematic music for Sandy Moore's film score for the IMX feature film The Wild Dogs, which received a 2003 Juno nomination for best film score.

After the the 1994 Toronto premiere of his undergraduate chamber work A Martian Sends a Postcard Home by the Canadian Composers Orchestra, his concert works were performed by major ensembles in Nova Scotia (Halifax Camerata Singers, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, Novus Chamber Choir, Truro First Baptist Girls Choir, NS Kings County Youth Choir) in the US (Cambridge Madrigal Singers, Boise State University Singers, Memphis Vocal Arts Ensemble) and Korea (Felix Choir, Jeju’s premier choral ensemble). CBC National Radio has aired his choral works ‘Ghanaian Medley’ and ‘Make a Joyful Noise’, and his Serra Chamber Singers’ recording of Philip Glass’ ‘Father Death Blues’ (with consultation from the composer). 

Awards for Emanuel’s original works include a 2013 Mainstage Award from the Boston Metropolitan Opera International Composers Competition for his fairytale opera, Feathertop; first place national champion in the 2014 Korea Toastmasters National Speech Competition for his original humorous tall tale entry, The Very Difficult Ajumma, performed in pansori (Korean-style opera), Cambridge Madrigal Singers 2002 Composers Competition Honorable Mention, and semi-finalist in the 2017 Canadian Songwriting Competition. Awards for contributions to Canadian cultural life include the 2003 Nova Scotia Cultural Arts Award and the Portuguese Canadian National Congress 2004 Copa Arts Award. 

In 2018, Arts Nova Scotia awarded Emanuel a creation grant to complete Requiem for choir, soloists, chamber orchestra blended with virtual orchestra in a live concert. 

Emanuel has been providing artists with orchestral arrangements as early as 1998 for the late John Allan Cameron’s 20th anniversary concert with the Edmonton Symphony at the Edmonton Winspear Centre. More recently, he provided orchestral arrangements for traditional instrumental band Beolach’s 2019 International Celtic Colours Festival artist residency, as well as for their 2020 album All Hands, which received a Juno nomination for best traditional roots album of the year, and won the 2020 Canadian Folk Music Award for traditional album of the year. 

Emanuel is a Dean's List graduate from Dalhousie University's undergraduate music program (1993), a US National Music Honours Society member with a masters in composition from the University of Memphis (2012), and he is a PMI Certified Associate in Project Management. He resides in Nova Scotia, Canada and in Jeju, South Korea.

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