French violinist and social media influencer Esther Abrami releases her new album, Women, featuring music by female composers in a bid to redress…
The first time Esther Abrami saw a violin, she was just 3 years old. Little did she know at the time, it would be the start of a lifelong love affair.
The instrument belonged to Abrami’s late grandmother, Françoise.
„She gave up the violin when she got married,“ said Abrami, now a rising violinist who’s toured across Europe and China. „I kind of took where she left and kept going.“
Abrami translates that tale of inspiration in „Transmission,“ her first recorded composition, as part of a new album out last Friday. The soaring melody has a cinematic feel, breaking into arpeggiated chords accompanied by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
„It’s a composition that I feel very emotional playing, and recording it also felt very special,“ Abrami told NPR’s Michel Martin.
The album Women features the world-premiere studio recording of Irish composer Ina Boyle’s Violin Concerto (1935), which evokes bucolic scenes with the feel of a tone poem.
Boyle has largely been forgotten, something she shares with several of the 14 composers and songwriters on the album, including Brazil’s Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847-1935) and Venezuela’s Teresa Carreño (1853-1917).
And so it is rather apropos that the orchestral works on the album are conducted by Irene Delgado-Jiménez, who recently completed a two-year fellowship in the conducting incubator led by Marin Alsop, the first woman to lead a major American orchestra.
Among the living composers on the album are Oscar winners Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley — who are both British — Miley Cyrus via an arrangement of „Flowers“ and Yoko Shimomura with her „Valse di Fantastica,“ a theme from the video game Final Fantasy XV.
After completing her studies when she was 25, Abrami realized „in all those years, I’d learned hundreds of pieces, but not a single one of them had been written by a woman,“ said Abrami, now 28. „And then I started kind of doing my own journey and my own research, and it was like opening the door of a hidden treasure.“
Boyle’s teacher Ralph Vaughan Williams, one of the most celebrated British composers of the early 20th century, reportedly told her: „I think it is most courageous of you to go on with so little recognition. The only thing to say is that it sometimes does come finally.“
And that, perhaps, is the whole point of Abrami’s latest recording endeavor.
„Hopefully, in 10 years, it won’t be needed to have an album titled Women,“ she said. „But for now, we still have to do so much, to push so much to be able to even come to something that is close to being equal in terms of, for example, performing works by women. And we are so, so, so far off still.“
Last year, the Donne Foundation, which keeps track of women in classical music, found the number of works by female composers being performed by global orchestras had slightly dropped in the previous season, to just 7.5% of the repertoire.
Abrami said part of why she’s active on social media is to try to change those numbers and inspire young aspiring musicians. „I see the impact that has on little girls… Little girls who came to my concerts and said that my social media and my videos on YouTube have inspired them to start on the violin, now they are coming to me saying, ‚I played a piece composed by a woman, I asked my teacher to to play a piece composed by woman.‘ „
Composers like Pauline Viardot were renowned in their time, reduced to an afterthought only after their death. Abrami describes the singer-composer as an influencer in late 19th century musical circles. Viardot was an early champion of the works of her contemporaries like Georges Bizet, including his Carmen — today one of the most frequently performed operas, but poorly received at its premiere just months before Bizet died.
„She was hosting concerts and parties in her Parisian apartment. All the big figures in the culture world at the time knew her. She was very good friends with [writer] George Sand, but also Chopin and Clara and Robert Schumann, and all these people were coming to them to play with her, to see her,“ said Abrami.
Abrami counts Holocaust survivors among her grandparents, and for this year’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day in January, she released Ilse Weber’s „Wiegala“ as a single. The haunting lullaby was written by Weber, a poet who served as a pediatric nurse in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the present-day Czech Republic.
„To calm the children that she was taking care of, what she was doing was composing music and singing to them,“ said Abrami. When children in the camp were sent to Auschwitz, Weber voluntarily accompanied them. „It is known that just before going in the gas chamber, one of the last songs that she sang together with the children was ‚Wiegala.‘ “ Abrami’s paternal great-grandfather was also killed at Auschwitz.
The lullaby only survives today because Weber’s husband had hidden her poems and scores at Theresienstadt and retrieved them after the war.
The broadcast version of this story was produced by Barry Gordemer. The digital version was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Women are making a lot of noise in popular music today. Think Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Shania Twain. But when was the last time you heard a piece of classical music composed by a woman?
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI, ET AL.’S „VALSE DI FANTASTICA“)
MARTIN: In her new album, French violinist Esther Abrami uncovers what women have had to say musically from the Middle Ages‘ Hildegard von Bingen to Miley Cyrus today, dipping into Brazilian dances and, yes, pop along the way. She spoke with me from Paris about what first inspired her.
ESTHER ABRAMI: It’s when I came out of university and I was 25 years old that it hit me that in all those years, I’d learned hundreds of pieces, but not a single one of them had been written by a woman. Then I started kind of doing my own journey and my own research with it, and it was like opening the door of, like, a hidden treasure.
MARTIN: Do you think that women have something different to say than men in music?
ABRAMI: On my side, what I’ve kind of found, I think, is that a lot of the music that we have from men is often linked to something like war – you know, heroic music. And I think what you compose is really what you live, and the life of women – we’re very different. So I think the fact that women didn’t really have the opportunity to have their pieces performed by full orchestras also means that a lot of the time, they were composing for more intimate ensembles. It’s very powerful but another kind of power.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI ET AL.’S „CORTA JACA (ARR. FOR VIOLIN AND STRING QUINTET BY JAN-PETER KLOPFEL)“)
MARTIN: A number of the composers on this album are names you just don’t hear very often, like the Irish composer Ina Boyle. You play her violin concerto.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI, ET AL.’S „CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA (TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER): II. ADAGIO“)
MARTIN: So how did you find them, and then how did you decide to choose them for this album?
ABRAMI: The way I found these pieces was really just doing a lot of research – anything I could find, really. I guess I chose those women not only because of their incredible music, but also because of their story.
MARTIN: So that leads me to „Wiegala“ – is it? – by Ilse Weber.
ABRAMI: Yes.
MARTIN: She was Jewish. She was a prisoner at a concentration camp during World War II in what was then the Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. A very powerful story.
ABRAMI: Ilse Weber was sent to Theresienstadt prisoners‘ camp, and she was sent with her and her husband and her son. And she was working as a nurse for the children in the camps. What she was doing was composing music and singing to them. After a while, they decided to send the children to Auschwitz. She took the decision to go to Auschwitz with them. She didn’t have to go. And before she left, her husband, who was working as a gardener in this camp, took all of Ilse Weber’s music and buried it and hid it. It is known that just before going in the gas chamber, one of the last song – lullaby that she sang together with the children was „Wiegala,“ this piece that I rearranged and recorded. And after the war, her husband came back and digged (ph) out the music, and it’s thanks to that that we have this today.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI AND ESTHER ABRAMI ENSEMBLE’S „WIEGALA“)
ABRAMI: We have actual testimony from people who came back from the camps, who said how much her singing to the prisoners helped.
MARTIN: So on a happier note, one of the composers on your album, Pauline Viardot, was a – well, I guess we would call her an influencer today…
ABRAMI: (Laughter).
MARTIN: …In the 19th century. What was her impact on the musical world at the time?
ABRAMI: It was huge. And I think that’s one important thing to know, is that a lot of women, even though they are completely unknown today, they were very popular during their lifetime. And Pauline was hosting concerts and parties, and all the big figures at the time knew her. And she was very good friend with George Sand, Chopin, Robert Schumann. And all these people were coming to play with her, to see her.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI, ET AL.’S „HAI LULI!, VWV 1106“)
MARTIN: I think this is a good place to mention that you, too – I understand you don’t love the word influencer, but you have an enormous following online, including on TikTok. You know, how did that start? Did it just seem natural to you – just kind of your people?
(LAUGHTER)
ABRAMI: Well, it actually came from a point of feeling quite lonely. Being a classical musician means that you spend hours and hours locked in a practice room alone, and that’s how I started social media. I enjoy sharing moments of my life as a classical musician that people don’t ever see when you just go see classical musician in a concert. And I suddenly have people, you know, who were enjoying viewing these videos, listening to my music. And that really gave me a lot of courage and a lot of motivation also to kind of keep working.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI, ET AL.’S „FLOWERS“)
MARTIN: One of the things that you’ve explored on this album is the difficulty that some of these women had in being heard. You know, you’re still in your 20s. Do you still feel that way?
ABRAMI: I think the barriers are less obvious. And whilst there’s been a huge amount of progress, we are so, so, so far off still. That’s also a reason why I do social media, is because I see the impact that it has on little girls that come to my concert. They’re coming to me saying, oh, I played a piece composed by a woman. So there’s still a long way to change things, but I see it changing, and that’s beautiful.
MARTIN: That is a violinist Esther Abrami. Her new album is „Women.“ Esther Abrami, thank you so much for speaking with us.
ABRAMI: Thank you for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF ESTHER ABRAMI, ET AL.’S „TRANSMISSION“)
The Faces of Gun Violence exhibit at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters showed the portraits of 120 people killed in gun violence in the U.S.
When asked about the image, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York who is friendly with Trump, said „it wasn’t good“ and that he hoped Trump had nothing to do with it.
The president says a third term is „not something I’m looking to do,“ and the U.S. economy is in a „transition period.“
French police say they rescued the father of a wealthy crypto entrepreneur, the second ransom case linked to the crypto world this year.
Israel said it would retaliate after four people were injured and flights temporarily suspended.
An 18-year-old from Russian-occupied Luhansk tells NPR how and why he escaped to Kyiv.
Police say they arrested two people involved. The target was a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro, which drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana Beach on Saturday night.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Saturday that U.S. President Donald Trump proposed sending American troops into Mexico to help her administration fight drug trafficking but she rejected it.
Ahead of the election of the next pope, a chimney was installed atop the Sistine Chapel on Friday, which will help notify the public of the 267th pope.
The victory hands Venezuelan jockey Junior Alvarado his first career win in the Kentucky Derby. Sovereignty’s trainer, Bill Mott, has won the Kentucky Derby once before.
Florida lawmakers have sent the governor a bill that would provide financial relief to condo owners. The measure softens mandates passed after the deadly 2021 collapse of a condo tower in Surfside.
Buzzi, who was best known for her regular appearances on the NBC variety TV show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, died on Thursday at her home in Texas.