Born in Australia, Martine Värnik (oboe) began her music studies in Melbourne and moved to Stuttgart for postgraduate study with Professor Ingo Goritzki. Subsequently she auditioned for the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, where she learnt with Dominik Wollenweber and performed, recorded and toured with the orchestra for two years. Martine Värnik went on to be a member of the Kammerakademie Potsdam for five years and, since then, has pursued a freelance career, performing principal oboe with the orchestra of the Hamburg State Opera, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Spira Mirabilis and Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. She also performed and recorded frequently as principal English horn with the WDR Symphony Orchestra and was acting principal English horn for two seasons with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.

She performs regularly with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. As a chamber musician, Martine Värnik has performed with the Finsterbusch-Trio since 2005 and, as a soloist, has appeared with Ensemble Oriol, the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra and at festivals including Pärnu, Moritzburg, Crusell, Lockenhaus, Sion and Zermatt. Since 2016 Värnik, who has a foreign Estonian background, has been playing in the Estonian Festival Orchestra. Currently she is the principal oboe of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra in Yerevan.