Born into a family of musicians and artists, he moved to the United States when he was ten years old. Soon after, he began to study drums, which led to studying jazz percussion with T. Howard Curtis at the Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an M.A. in jazz performance and composition from New York University and received the Barney Josephson Award in 2003.
He toured the United States with the spoken-word, hip-hop group, Jazz Poets Society. While in New York, Emre studied with Adam Nussbaum, John Riley, Tony Moreno, Billy Hart and Jamey Haddad. He has performed with Darius Jones, Trevor Dunn, Paul Pieper, John D'earth, Jim McNeely, Ron McClure, Mike Richmond and David Liebman.
His first CD as a leader, Perpetual Anxiety, is released in Turkey under the Dogan Music label. In 2005, he performed and recorded for the rock band Brindley Brothers, and the electric jazz group, Signals.
Emre has played and recorded with his own quartet Origin, featuring David Liebman, John D'earth and Howard Curtis. Emre also recorded with the trio Big Girl, featuring Darius Jones and Trevor Dunn from John Zorn-Fantomas.
As an educator, he worked with the New York Pops-Mentors in Music program. In 2009, he formed Turkey's first college credited, state supported jazz program at the Ankara State Conservatory. In 2011, he became the director of jazz studies at Yasar University in Izmir, Turkey. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia.
