Emma Black
Australian born Emma Black is the principal oboist with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble (Thomas Hengelbrock) and principal and soloist with the Wiener Akademie (Vienna) and Le Concert de la Loge (Paris) . With all of these orchestras she has performed in all the major European festivals and can be heard in numerous cd and radio recordings.

Emma Black also plays and records regularly with Musica Aeterna (Teodor Currentzis), the Nederlands Bach Vereinigung ,the Orchestra of the Antipodes, Pinchgut Opera, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Le Cercle de l’Harmonie , the Wiener Kammerorchester, Radio Symphony Orchestra of Vienna, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ensemble Prisma, Bach Consort Wien, Les Talens Lyriques, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO).

As a soloist, she performs regularly with the Wiener Akademie (most recently performing Mozart and Haydn oboe concertos in the Vienna Musikverein ), Emma has also performed often with the Kammerakademie Potsdam, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, ARCO and the Bach Consort Wien.

Over the past 15 years Emma Black has pursued a strong interest in early music and study of the historical oboe. This interest had its genesis following her move to Zurich in 1993 where she began playing with the Orchester der Opernhaus Zurich with conductors such as Nicholas Harnoncourt, Nello Santi and Franz Weiser-Möst. It was here she had her first experiences with historical instruments in the opera house orchestra La Scintilla. This led to a decision to study historical oboe and performance practice at the Scuola Cantorum, Basel. She subsequently became an active member of the Zurich Bläser Quintett recording several CDs with this group and making regular radio recordings and performances in leading European festivals.

Between the years 2005-2009, Emma was the principal oboist of the Kammerakademie Potsdam, at the time under the artistic direction of Sergio Azzolini and then Andrea Marcon.

Emma Black’s musical studies commenced at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne before relocating to Europe where she studied with Heinz Holliger the Musik Hochschule Freiburg and Maurice Bourgue at the Conservatoire de Geneve.

Between the years 2014-2019 she held the position of professor for oboe at the Kunstuniversität Graz.

Zoë Black
is a violinist's violinist, known for her beauty of sound and natural virtuosity. In 1989 she won the National Youth Concerto Competition and in 1991, the string section of the ABC Young Performers Awards.

After graduating from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1992, Zoë was awarded grants from the Australia Council and Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Trust as well as the major performance award of the Australian Music Foundation in London, which facilitated her studies at the Guildhall School of Music under David Takeno and subsequently at the Vienna Hochschule with Michael Schnitzler.

Zoë was appointed assistant leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra in 1993, touring the world extensively. A committed chamber musician, in 2005 Zoë co-founded the Freshwater Trio with whom she toured nationally and internationally. She has also performed as soloist with various chamber and symphony orchestras and is a regular guest concertmaster with MSO and QSO.

Zoë returned to the ACO in 2012 in a part time capacity, where she regularly led the ACO Collective, performed as soloist and was an integral component of their educational program. More recently, Zoë was a guest leader of the Australian String Quartet in 2016, performing at Festivals in Victoria, WA and in Italy (Rome, Venice and Cremona).

In 2011 Zoë co-founded the innovative duo with pianist/composer Joe Chindamo. The duo has performed at all the major festivals in Australia and recorded three ARIA nominated CDs, (Reimaginings, Dido's Lament and their re-versioning of The Goldberg Variations, premiering the latter at Carnegie Hall in 2015). The duo made their debut Italian performance at the Spinacorona Festival in Naples, at the invitation of renowned pianist Michele Campanella in 2018, and are invited to perform the aforementioned Goldberg Variations at the Bach Festival in Leipzig in 2020. A passionate teacher and tutor, Zoë has taught and tutored at Melbourne University, VCA, VCASS and Monash University.