At our May 19 concert at Orchestra Hall, 18 year old Rabia Brooke will perform Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor. Rabia was one of the winners of our 2018 Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, and is currently co-concertmaster in the ensemble.
Equally at home as a solo, chamber, and orchestral player, Rabia Brooke is an award-winning violinist whose performance experiences span a wide range of repertoire, styles, and collaborators. This season Rabia performs solo works for the Musicians Club of Women in “Unaccompanied Women”, solos with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra, and will have solo “Senior Recitals” at WFMT Broadcast, Fine Arts Music – Performance and Scholarship Series Special Event in Norte Ecole Hall, as well as solo appearances in Orchestra Hall. She performs chamber with principals of Lyric Opera Orchestra on the Pilgrim Chamber Players Series and Fifth House Ensemble.
Last season Rabia was honoured to perform under the baton of Maestro George Stelluto at Ravinia with the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, the Musique Dans la Gers Festival in France, with Rachel Barton Pine on the Buckingham Salon Series, WFMT Broadcast, as soloist on Make Music Now Series and Piano Forte Studios. Previous projects include: tour of Central Europe with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra; Curtis Summer Fest serving as concertmaster of the YASP Orchestra under the baton of Joshua Gersen of the New York Philharmonic; collaborations with Formosa Quartet and Black Oak Ensemble. Other projects include: European tour with Daniel Rowland for the filming of a Beethoven documentary; premiering and recording Athena Triumphant String Quartet by local award-winning composer, Stacy Garrop; performing a live solo broadcast on WFMT Introductions; perform solo and chamber works with Grammy-nominated banjoist Noam Pikelny and bluegrass band, Special Consensus for Kellogg.
Rabia is a 2019 National Young Arts Foundation Merit Winner, recipient of the 2018 Musicians Club of Women Farwell Trust Award, and the 2019 Northwest Symphony Paul Vermel Young Artists Award. She has garnered accolades as Winner of the 2018 CYSO Concerto Competition, 2017 Curtis Institute Concerto Competition; First Place in 2018 Society of American Musicians Intermediate and Young Artists Competitions; Overall and String Category Winner of the 2018 Discover MYA National Chamber Competition; 2018 Walgreens National Concerto Competition Senior Open Division Winner of Early Music Category and 2nd Place in Strings Category; First Place in 2018 American Protégé Concerto Competition; DePaul Concerto Festival Winner (2014); First Place Violin 2018 Senior Division of Chinese Fine Arts Society; 2017 Enkor International Chamber Competition and Concerto Competition (2018); Semi-Finalist of the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; First Place in 2017 Chamber Music Competition with the Chinese Fine Arts Society, among others. She serves as co-concertmaster of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and is a founding member of Asrai Quartet.
Passionately playing violin since the age of three, she has been honoured to study with Lei Hou of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Alexander Belavsky of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and perform in master classes for Catherine Cho, Daniel Rowland, Rachael Kolly d’Alba, and Ani Kavafian. She was honoured to have the tutelage and mentorship of pianists Winston Choi and the late Deborah Sobol. Currently, she studies with Desirée Ruhsrat of the Lincoln Trio.
