Violinist and composer Esther Abrami has revolutionized the way classical music is presented. She has found a way to break the rules of an extremely conservative world while making classical music known and loved by young people who had never listened to it before.
Today, she has over a million followers across her social media platforms, where she shares her life as a classical musician with a bit of a rock‘n’roll twist.
On Esther, Madame Figaro wrote: “No one had ever succeeded in such a feat: captivating millions of young internet users perpetually glued to social media and converting them to classical music with such pieces as Bach’s partitas and Mendelssohn’s concertos performed on the violin.”
Described by Les Echos as “the musician opening the doors of classical music to all generations”, she was also the first classical musician ever nominated in the Social Media Super Star category at the Global Awards in London.
A graduate of one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, the Royal College of Music in London, Esther signed a contract with Sony to release her first album even before finishing her studies. Two successful albums that brought her onto TV shows such as Quotidien, Quelle Époque in France as well as BBC1 Sunday Morning Live, BBC Breakfast, Christmas Carols on ITV and Sky News in the UK. Esther was featured in Classic FM’s‘ 30 under 30 Classical Artists to Watch’ series, curated by Julian Lloyd Webber and was listed as a ‘Rising Star’ by BBC Music Magazine.
She is now releasing her third album with Sony this year. Titled Women, it is dedicated to female composers who were historically overlooked in a nearly exclusively male-dominated world. Esther Abrami has performed in some of the world’s greatest classical venues such as The Royal Albert Hall in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee celebration, Carnegie Hall in New York and the Musikverein in Vienna. She recently returned from a three-week tour in China, performing in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and other cities. After selling out Salle Gaveau in Paris last year, she has now announced her first concert at the legendary Olympia.
Her interest in fashion—uncommon in the classical music world—has led her to become an ambassador for several luxury brands, including Zenith (LVMH), Champagne Tsarine and Messika. She is regularly dressed by Dior, Fendi, Tod’s, and Louboutin. Recently, Harper’s Bazaar highlighted her as “the leading violinist of a new generation of classical music fans, bringing fashion and the joy ofdressing up into her field.”
She also regularly gives lectures and masterclasses, gathering thousands of attendees, including at the National Congress of the Centre des Jeunes Dirigeants and at business schools like ECM. Her podcast, Women in Classical, gives a voice to modern women in various roles within the music industry from all over the world. She regularly hosts notable guests, including Rachel Portman, the first woman to win an Oscar for film scoring.
Esther Abrami is one of those shaping and evolving their field, working to create equal opportunities for success and access to knowledge for people of all backgrounds and genders.
She plays on a Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume violin from 1857, generously loaned by the Beare’s International Violin Society.