Noted by DMV Classical as “[having] a consistently lovely tone and [taking] her melodic twists and turns with stylish assurance,” oboist Emily Tsai is Assistant Principal Oboe of the Washington National Opera and can be seen in regular performances of Washington, DC opera, ballet, and musical theater productions. She has made solo appearances with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Alba Music Festival Orchestra, the Paragon Philharmonia, the Amadeus Orchestra, and others. She has had the privilege of performing chamber music with such prominent musicians as Nathan Hughes, Frank Morelli, Clive Greensmith, Martin Chalifour, and Matthew Lipman. She is also on the faculty at the University of Maryland School of Music. Emily began her musical studies at the age of four on the violin and started the oboe when she was ten. Her main teachers include Mark Hill, Richard Killmer, and Malcolm Smith. Emily received her Bachelor of Music degree in Oboe Performance, with a Performer’s Certificate and the Chamber Music Award, from the Eastman School of Music, and her Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Rochester, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She received her Master of Music from the University of Maryland, where she was part of the Graduate Fellowship Quintet.