Emily played violin with her Dad, Andrew White, from an early age. He made it a source of musical joy, and she went on to study baroque violin with Rachel Podger as second study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and completed Postgraduate Study in Baroque Violin at Trinity Laban with Walter Reiter in 2007 alongside her life as a trombonist.  Whilst studying there she was awarded the Ella Kidney Early Music Prize and won the Bach competition. 

She has worked as a freelance violinist with In Echo, I Fagiolini, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, 
Devon Baroque and Canzona.

Emily was Artist in Residence with Deveron Projects in 2007 and premiered and recorded the String Quartets of Ronald Centre with The Isla Quartet in a festival she directed, hosted by James Naughtie.

Rachel Stott wrote Scylla and Charybdis, a Concerto in a Fantastic Style for her and she premiered it in the Edinbugh Festival and performed it in California in 2017. 

In 2022 she performed  Violin Sonata Duodecima by Isabella Leonard in a recital exclusively of her music in Zurich Early Music Festival, with I Cavalieri del Corentto. Emily has gone on to play and teach more and more of Leonarda's output as a result of this project. 

Emily co-directed the Huntly Summer School for ten years with Morag Johnston, and they brought classical and traditional violin tuition to those who struggle to access it in Aberdeenshire. 

She enjoys playing chamber music with her family, and recorded the Three Romances by Clara Schumann with her mother, Tessa White playing piano in 2025. 

Emily enjoyed finding the similarities between the two instruments: both require the player to find the note themselves and trust their ears. Using the bow informs the breath, using the air informs the bow. 

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