Emilia Lopez-Yañez

Emilia Lopez-Yañez was born into a musical family in San Diego, California, where she grew up singing, dancing, and playing the oboe. She continued to pursue her love of music at Chapman University, where she received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal and Oboe Performance. Having taught music to her dolls since childhood, she fell in love with teaching music to children during her undergraduate studies. Emilia was working on her masters and a graduate certificate in oboe performance at the University of Southern California when she stumbled upon the little haven on 3rd Street that was PLAY. While completing her studies, Emilia began teaching at PLAY and fell in love with early childhood music. She simultaneously directed children’s choirs, taught jazz, and worked with pre-K classes throughout South Los Angeles in underprivileged schools through USC’s Thornton Community Engagement Program. In 2018, Emilia and her mother created a kids music duo, Ruth and Emilia, releasing two award-winning albums with the goal of inspiring audiences to be their very best, while making the world a better place. In early 2022, Emilia got engaged and moved from Southern California with her fiancé, but she is very excited that she still gets to spend time making music with PLAY families online from all parts of the world, as well as occasionally co-producing and performing on tracks, and writing songs for PLAY.