Emily O'Brien is a native of Washington, DC where she played recorder from a young age. She studied recorder and french horn at Boston University, and recorder and Baroque flute at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, Germany. She performs and teaches in the Boston area, including the Society for Historically Informed Performance concert series, the Boston Recorder Society concert series, and in fringe events surrounding Boston Early Music Festival, as well as Early Music New York and the NEC Baroque Society. She also works for the Von Huene Workshop and the Early Music Shop of New England in Brookline, MA. In her spare time, she enjoys long distance cycling.

Recent projects have included "An Evening in the French Baroque," a program of French music for two flutes, harpsichord, and gamba with Sarah Paysnick, Zoe Weiss, and Akiko Sato; a special program with pianist Jacqueline Schwab of 20th century music for recorder and piano ranging from York Bowen to George Gershwin; the American Recorder Society's "Recorder Relay," where she performed a piece by her father based on American folk music with Sarah Darling (viola), and concerto appearances with New England Conservatory's Baroque Society.