Violinist Esther Nahm was born in Seoul, Korea and began violin lessons at age seven at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music’s Starling Kids Program. She attended the Interlochen Arts Academy, a performing arts boarding high school in northern Michigan, where she graduated with a fine arts award for outstanding performance on violin. Esther has served as concertmaster of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra, the Festival Hill Orchestra at Roundtop and as principal second violin for the National Festival Orchestra, which served a residency in Carnegie Hall under Lukas Foss. She was the winner of the Chippewa Valley Symphony’s Young Artist’s Competition and performed as soloist with that orchestra.
Esther has been a scholarship recipient at various summer festivals including the Meadowmount School of Music, ENCORE School for Strings, the Heifetz International Institute, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute and the International Festival Institute at Roundtop. She has also participated in masterclasses with James Buswell, David Cerone, Linda Cerone and David Updegraff. Her primary teachers on violin include Hal Grossman, Bayla Keyes and Michelle LaCourse. She graduated cum laude from Boston University with a Bachelor’s of Music and will be pursuing a graduate level Performance Diploma at Boston University on violin and viola this coming September, studying with Bayla Keyes and Steven Ansell. In her free time, Esther enjoys photography, yoga and cooking vegetarian and Korean meals.
