Born in Dallas, Texas, violinist and violist Cynthia Keiko Black grew up surrounded by music playing piano at home with her mom and singing at church. She enjoys a varied musical life across the United States and at home in the Bay Area. She is often seen performing with INCANTARE, an ensemble of violins and sackbuts, and plays at the Carmel Bach Festival and Berkeley Early Music Festival during the summer.

She looks forward to performing with Chatham Baroque, Ars Minerva, American Bach Soloists, Cantata Collective, and Newberry Consort this season. She can be heard on recordings with ensembles Apollo’s Fire, Cantata Collective, Queen’s Rebels, Agave Baroque, and American Bach Soloists, and will be releasing an album of 18th-century duos for violin and viola with Allison Monroe this season.

Cynthia holds a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University where she studied with Julie Andrijeski and modern viola degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music. In addition to performing, she teaches a studio of young students at the Crowden School’s Community Program in Berkeley, is the music librarian for Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and plays organ at Holy Trinity/La Santisima Trinidad in Richmond, California. She enjoys cooking, watercoloring, and growing vegetables at home in Richmond, California where she lives with her trumpet-playing and harpsichord-building husband Dominic Favia and their young daughter.