Esther Abrami

Esther Abrami’s path as a violinist blends classical performance traditions with digital reach and connections to high fashion. The year 2019 marked her as the first classical artist nominated for Social Media Superstar at the Global Awards.

Born in France in 1996, Abrami spent her childhood in Aix-en-Provence and attended a modest rural school. At age three a grandmother—who had once aspired to a musical career before relinquishing the violin after marriage—presented her with a child-size instrument. Abrami did not resume playing until she turned ten, yet within thirty minutes of returning to the violin she recognized it as her lifelong pursuit. She completed studies at the Aix-en-Provence Conservatoire by fourteen, after which she relocated to England and entered Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester under Jan Repko. Acceptance to the Royal College of Music in London followed in 2017, where Leonid Kerbel served as her instructor. During this period she began building an online audience by sharing practice sessions and demonstrations, among them an explanation of the differences between a Stradivarius and a standard violin. A clip featuring a kitten nestled in a waist pouch accumulated more than ten million views. She later represented the Royal College of Music as a student at the Manhattan Institute of Music in New York and took part in master classes led by Shmuel Ashkenasi, Alexander Markov, and jazz violinist Regina Carter. A full scholarship then supported her master’s degree work at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with Wen Zhou Li.

She has performed as soloist at Carnegie Hall in New York as well as at London’s Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre, and Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, and she has appeared in the broadcast studios of Classic FM. Brands seeking to combine her artistry with her substantial online following have included, in the words of Abrami’s own website (accessed April 16, 2022), “leading brands across a variety of industry sectors. From luxury fashion to music streaming, luxury perfumes and cosmetics to technology start-ups.” Her debut album, released in 2022 on Sony Classical and bearing her own name, featured the original composition Sainte Victoire en Sol mineur for violin, orchestra, and programming.