Emily Thomas Waters began her study of violin at age three. She graduated from Charlottesville High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in music with a concentration in music education from Virginia Commonwealth University. While at VCU she served as concertmaster of the VCU Symphony and graduated with university honors. Ms. Waters served as the Director of the Frank W. Cox High School Orchestra in Virginia Beach from 2015-2018, during which time membership in the program doubled. Ms. Waters returned home in 2018 to direct the Walker Upper Elementary School Orchestra; within two years the Walker Orchestra grew from 120 to nearly 200 students.

Ms. Waters earned her masters’ degree in music education at James Madison University in 2021. That year she was awarded the JMU Graduate School Innovation Award and the JMU Dr. Alice Hammel Inclusion in Music Education Award in 2021 for her work at JMU, including the development of a hip-hop violin method book. Ms. Waters directs the Junior Strings of the Youth Orchestra of Central Virginia, has presented at the Virginia Music Educators’ Association Professional Development Conference, and in 2021 produced an instrumental hip-hop violin album entitled Who Are You? under her stage name “The String Queen.”
In 2022, Ms. Waters was hired to succeed her mother Laura Mulligan Thomas upon her retirement after four decades as the CHSO Director. Ms. Waters and the CHSO have continued her legacy of excellence; in the past two years they earned gold medals at competitive festivals in Orlando and New York City. Ms. Thomas continues to volunteer with the Charlottesville City Schools Orchestra program and travel with the CHSO.