Francesca Abusamra

Violinist • Performer • Collaborator • Teaching Artist

Based in New York City, Francesca Abusamra is a violinist dedicated to creating an engaging and accessible musical experience. She is passionate about chamber music, and is currently a member of Duo Crepuscolo, a violin-guitar duo focused on connecting Italian and American cultures, and creating new repertoire for the ensemble. They have been described in Amadeus Magazine as “demonstrating great skill, affinity, and interpretative maturity”. She was also formerly a founding member of the Opus87 Piano Quartet, which aimed to bring both new music and classical repertoire to a variety of audiences, touring the east coast from the rural Maine woods to Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC. 

Ms. Abusamra is also passionate about performances that interact with other artistic disciplines. In collaboration with choreographer Allison Armstrong of Golden Hour Dance, she created a performance project where live solo violin interacted with dancers. Abusamra also participated in a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Gloria at Symphony Space, together with Dakshina Indian Dance Company.

Abusamra believes in the importance of working with living composers, regularly performing and premiering new works, many of them dedicated to her. She is also passionate about interdisciplinary performances; in collaboration with choreographer Allison Armstrong of Golden Hour Dance, she created a performance project where live solo violin interacted with dancers. She also participated in a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Gloria at Symphony Space, together with Dakshina Indian Dance Company. She also enjoys venturing outside of the classical realm, performing with artists such as indie band Japanese Breakfast’s frontwoman Michelle Zauner (with whom she performed at the New Yorker Festival, as well as the inaugural concert series at the Perlman Performing Arts Center at Ground Zero), and Nigerian rapper and singer Asake with the Red Bull Symphonic.

Ms. Abusamra has had the honor of sharing the stage with artists such as Lang Lang, Emmanuel Ax, and Leonard Slatkin. She regularly performs with various orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the NYC area, and performs in numerous notable concert venues across the city, such as Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, Zankel Hall, and Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center’s Merkin Hall and Alice Tully Hall, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and Feinstein’s 54 Below. Originally a Michigan native, she has also performed in the Detroit Symphony’s Orchestra Hall, performing a double concerto alongside DSO Assistant Concertmaster Hai Xin Wu and chamber orchestra.

Her most recent recording project was with the Morningside Tone Collective, where they recorded jazz musician Jeff Lederer’s chamber music at Guilford Sound Studios. The album will be released by little (i) music this autumn. She is currently in the process of developing On television, she has appeared playing for Succession, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, and the Food Network’s Worst Chefs in America: Celebrity Edition. She also appears on the soundtrack for the independent film The Clovehitch Killer. 

Abusamra is currently on violin faculty at multiple prestigious schools in New York City. She completed both her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees at the Manhattan School of Music, studying with Laurie Carney and Peter Winograd, both of the American String Quartet. Her violin is Jonathon I. Price.