EMMI

The EMMI program is a progressive, audition-based classical music conservatory within the Upper School.

The Elizabeth Mandell Music Institute (EMMI) is a renowned music program offered at Crossroads School for over 35 years, boasting alumni in all corners of the world of classical music. The program is open to Middle and Upper School students with the ambition, talent and discipline to pursue music at the highest level. This specialized program is unparalleled within a school setting and includes numerous performing opportunities as soloists, chamber musicians and in our award-winning EMMI Chamber Orchestra. In addition to receiving Crossroads School’s outstanding college preparatory education, EMMI students study music theory, harmony, analysis, counterpoint, rhythm and ear training at the conservatory/college level through four years of Music Theory.

Additionally, students participate in competitions, festivals, tours, outreach concerts, master classes by leading artists, juries and many more performing opportunities to help hone their craft. Students regularly work side by side with professionals in the field, including composers and performers, through special residencies and joint performances. In harmony with the Crossroads philosophy of developing each student’s full human potential, EMMI students attend symposiums on topics ranging from physical wellness and injury prevention to musical entrepreneurship for the 21st century.

EMMI has performed at Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Sunday’s Live series, USC and, most recently, at Carnegie Hall in New York City, where they were awarded a Gold Medal for their performance. EMMI graduates matriculate to top conservatories and colleges, which have most recently included Juilliard, Yale, Columbia, USC Thornton School of Music and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU. EMMI alumni have gone on to prolific careers as concert masters, composers, opera singers and recording artists.

The Institute was named in honor of the late Elizabeth Heller Mandell, a Crossroads grandmother and parent of alumni as well as a former Trustee of the School.

EMMI Courses

Chamber Music
Keyboard Skills
Music Theory 1
Music Theory 2
Music Theory 3
Music Theory 4
Chamber Orchestra

EMMI Calendar

Upcoming Events

EMMI

Student Spotlight

EMMI Student Named to LA Phil Composer Fellowship Program

Lola Goetz, a senior, is a composer, classical pianist, jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. She has been studying classical piano for 10 years with Crossroads instructor Mary Ann Cummins, and composition for five years. She attended the 2024 Juilliard Summer Composition Program and Sunset Chamberfest’s Young Composers Workshop. Lola made it to Round 2 of the 2024 Music Center’s Spotlight Awards for classical piano and won first place in the 2023 Alice Frazier Kitchen Scholarship Competition. She was a winner of the LA Philharmonic Scholarship Competition’s Westside Committee every year from 2019 to 2024. Lola is very passionate about social justice issues and giving back to her community. She devotes time to volunteer opportunities and performs at several local senior resident facilities