A native of Chicago, violinist Annie Rabbat showed her affinity for music at an early age, singing “You Are My Sunshine” before she could speak and repeatedly attempting to sneak off with her older brother Mike’s violin. Since Mike, then 6 years old, preferred drawing on the chalkboard to playing Twinkle in his Suzuki lessons, he moved on to sports; Annie, then age 3-1/2, took up the violin.
Many years later, Annie received her Bachelor of Music degree at Indiana University, where she graduated with honors. She then headed east and completed her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School. After a year at Stony Brook University, she moved to Boston to study at the New England Conservatory. Her mentors include Miriam Fried, Robert Mann, Pamela Frank, Ani Kavafian, and Phil Setzer. This coming year, she will continue her work with Miriam Fried and will also study with Donald Weilerstein.
Annie’s first experience playing chamber music was at a high school summer camp. By her early college years, she was an enthusiast and she is now a self-declared Chamber Music Addict (in the good sense of the word). She has participated in numerous chamber music festivals, including Ravinia’s Steans Institute, IMS Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music, and Caramoor’s Rising Stars Series, as well as the Yellow Barn, Kneisel Hall and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals. In 2005, she toured with Musicians from Ravinia’s Steans Institute, giving performances in such venues as Washington, D.C.’s Library of Congress and Boston’s Gardner Museum. Annie’s chamber music collaborations have included performances with Timothy Eddy, Peter Frankl, Miriam Fried, Gary Hoffman, Ani Kavafian, Maria Lambros, Anthony Marwood, Robert Mann, Menahem Pressler and Roger Tapping. She is a member of the Laurel String Quartet, which was selected as an Honors Ensemble of the New England Conservatory for the 2006-07 academic year.
Annie’s recent engagements have included a solo recital at the Caramoor Center for the Performing Arts, as well as chamber music performances at the Virginia Arts Festival, the Concord Chamber Music Society, and the Danbury Concert Association. Annie served as Concertmaster for the Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra for the 2006-07 season. She appeared with Walden Chamber Players in May and will continue working with them this coming year.
Annie is passionate about educational outreach, and has given numerous music classes in public schools in Boston and New York as a Juilliard Morse Fellow and an NEC Outreach Fellow.
Annie enjoys spending her non-violin hours cooking, reading, watching movies, listening to U2, Sting, Joni Mitchell and many other non-classical artists, and playing the occasional backgammon or poker game with her family.
(photo: Susan Wilson)
