Les Cornets Noirs was founded by Gebhard David and Bork-Frithjof Smith in 1997. The group’s main interest lies in the solo and ensemble literature for the instrument which gives the group its name: the cornetto (cornetto/ cornet). In the year 2000 Les Cornets Noirs were prize winners in the concours musica antique at the Festival van Vlaanderen Brugge. Since then, the ensemble has performed regularly in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Luxemburg, France, Italy, and Portugal, both with their own programmes and together with vocal groups for the performance of large-scale Early Baroque works.