Young Artist of the Week: Violinist Esther Abrami
Angellica Bell's Young Artist of the Week; French violinist Esther Abrami.
Last updated 1st Jul 2021
On Saturday 8th August 2020 Angellica Bell spoke to her latest Young Artist of the Week; French violinist Esther Abrami about her earliest memories of playing and how she's been devoting her time during the lockdown on social media projects.
Having already performed in world-renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall in New-York, the Wiener Konzerthaus and Leeds Town Hall, the future is looking very promising for Esther Abrami.
Chatting to Angellica this morning, Esther revealed that not even lockdown has slowed her down, “I do quite a lot of stuff on social media, so even though, like all musicians, concerts got cancelled, I started quite a lot of projects. I organised an online concert, an online workshop, I used my platform to interact with people”.
With over 300,000 followers (and growing), even before lockdown Esther used her social presence to reach children and teenagers across the globe with little or no access to classical music, and help break the mould.
There is one post in particular that caught Angellica’s eye, that featured Esther playing Vivaldi on her 30cm-long baby first violin.
“During the lockdown, I returned to France to stay with my family. It was the first time in a long time I have been back with them because I was always travelling. I went through the old stuff I had when I was a kid, and I found my old violin. I thought it looks too cute, I’m going to give it a go”.
How old were you when you decided to play the violin?
“My mother loves listening to classical music. I think it was important to them that it was my decision when I started playing. So they waited for me to say I wanted to play.
“I just remember having this memory of my first proper violin lesson, and thinking I love this, I want to do this.
“I also remember thinking when I was 18/19 that all my friends were trying to think about where they wanted to go, and what they wanted to do in life, and I realised that I never had that because I was so sure I wanted to do this as a kid."
Before playing Esther’s track Serenity, Angellica asked about why she chose to collaborate with World Choir For Peace.
“Firstly it’s a really beautiful choir, and it’s the first time I collaborated with a choir. I love doing new things. I love playing with new instruments, across all the genres, and with different groups.
“Even the recording was a new process because usually, I am recording with strings or by myself, but with this piece, we recorded the choir with my violin solo together. Plus, the concept behind the choir was something I liked”.
The World Choir for Peace are a new choir who bring together singers from all over the world to bring about a culture of peace through singing together, both as individuals and as part of our choral community.
What is Scala Radio?
Scala Radio is a brand-new entertainment radio station that breaks the mould of classical music in the UK, fronted by presenters Simon Mayo, Angellica Bell, Mark Kermode and Chris Rogers. Playing familiar masters from Mozart and Holst to surprising new works from living composers like Karl Jenkins, Rebecca Dale and Thom Yorke, film scores and musicals, along with performances by bright young artists like Alexis Ffrench, Jess Gillam and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Scala Radio is an exciting discovery of classical music for modern life.
Featuring music that may be a surprising discovery or re-discovery, championed by presenters with personalities, and showcasing classical music through the lens of modern life.