An Australian violinist, pianist, Christie-Keiko Abe (Earl) performs as a soloist, chamber and orchestra musician. She has given solo recitals in the USA, Austria, Japan and Australia.

 

She received her Bachelor of Music degree with Honors from The Sydney Conservatorium of Music at The University of Sydney, her Masters of Music from the Australian Institute of Music, her post-graduate Specialist in Music performance with Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honors from The University of Michigan School of Music, and post-graduate Artist Certificate in performance from The University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music where she served as an assistant to Prof.David Perry. She has attended master classes of Dorothy Delay, Cho-Liang Lin, Pamera Frank, Igor Ozim, Ruggiero Ricci and Igor Oistrakh. 

 

As a soloist performer, Ms. Abe has appeared at the Schubertiade, Saturdays at Sherwood recital series, Metropolis Performing Arts Classical Concert series, the Australian Musicians Recital series, the Akademie Konzert series in Austria, the Chicago Japanese American Association Concert, the Illinois State Music teachers Association 2020 Virtual Conference, and the Triton College Faculty Recital series among many others, as well as sound stage for WTTW11 and ABC (American) and ABC Australia networks.

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She has recorded on the Naxos, Arabesque, and Albany labels with the IRIS orchestra, and the Equilibrium label with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. Ms. Abe is a founding member of the Chicago Trio and Artistic Director of the Chicago Trio Chamber Music Workshop where many CYSO students participate, and a founding member of the IRIS Orchestra under music director Michael Stern in Memphis, Tennessee. She performs with the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

A sought-after teacher, Ms.Abe served as faculty at the Blue Lake fine Arts camp in Michigan, teaching assistant to David Perry at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a resident coach at the Chicago Youth Symphony. From 2005 until 2010, she served as the Head of the String Department at the Metropolis School of the Performing Arts in Illinois, where she founded the chamber music and ensemble programs. From 2009-2019, She was a faculty member in the String, Piano and Suzuki Departments, as well as staff accompanist at Columbia College-Chicago, where she helped to build the pre-collegiate program in music. Many of her students have been successful at auditions and international competitions.

 

She has given master classes at several schools, and is frequently invited to serve on juries at competitions and auditions.  In 2015, she was awarded the Suzuki Association of the America’s Certificate of Achievement, an award given to teachers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to excellence in their teaching.  

 

Her major violin teachers include Harry Curby, David Perry, Paul Kantor, Piotr Milewski and  Masao Kawasaki.  Piano teachers include Junko Nagata, Gabriella Pusner, Margaret Hair, Russian concert pianists, Oleg Stepanov and Prof. Lev Vlassenko from the Moscow Conservatory.

 

Ms. Abe  is a founder/artistic director at the Chicago Trio Chamber music workshop, and maintains a private violin and piano studio and  is an active piano accompanist  in the Chicago area.

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Violin Piano Music Studio  : christiemusicstudio@gmail.com