George W. Emlen is a conductor, composer, arranger, songleader and music educator in Maine and Massachusetts. For 32 years he was music director of Revels, a Boston-based, national performing arts organization best known for annual performances of The Christmas Revels, a rich and joyful celebration of the winter solstice.


A graduate of Dartmouth College, George earned an advanced degree in choral conducting at the New England Conservatory. In Maine he founded and conducted the Acadia Choral Society, while also conducting the Oratorio Chorale and the Mount Desert Summer Chorale. George has been on the faculty of the New England Conservatory, where he directed the Conservatory Camerata; Lesley University in the Creative Arts in Learning program; the College of the Atlantic, and the University of Maine. He also taught and conducted at Noble and Greenough School and was music director at the Putney School.


In recent years George has worked with Bobby McFerrin in the vocal improvisatory genre of Circlesinging, which he incorporates into his conducting and teaching. He currently teaches a leadership course ("Conducting Your Chorus") at the Harvard Kennedy School for senior executives in state and local public office.


George's compositions and arrangements are published by Lawson-Gould, Thorpe, Lorenz/Sacred Music Press, and Redwing Press.