Emanuel Frazão began his musical studies at the Regional Conservatory of Ponta Delgada where, in 1978, he won the 1st Prize in the “Dame Ruth Railton” Piano Competition. In Lisbon, in 1988, he won the 2nd Prize in the Portuguese Musical Youth Competition, and in 1990, in the same competition, the 1st Prize (ex-aequo). He studied piano at the National Conservatory and at the Lisbon Superior School of Music (ESML), in the class of Miguel Henriques. At ESML, he graduated in Composition with Constança Capdeville, Álvaro Salazar and Christopher Bochmann.
At the same time, he took improvement courses in Composition and Musical Informatics at IRCAM. As a composer, he has performed at various festivals and has written music for film and television. As a pianist, he performed solo and in chamber music in various recitals. He taught at the Catholic University of Porto and is a professor at the Superior National Academy of Orchestra. He is chairman of the board of the Juventude Musical Portuguesa. He was artistic director of the Músicaçores Contemporary Music Festival between 2007 and 2009 and of the Azores Music Season between 2010 and 2012.
He was a member of the jury of the Estoril Interpretation Competition, the Young Musicians Award, the Maestro Silva Pereira Award, the 1st Karlovac International Piano Competition and the International Arches Competition «Júlio Cardona», of which he was president in its last two editions.