“An icon of new times in classical music”
—Musica Viva Magazine Brazil, 2015

Etienne Abelin is a conductor, violinist and curator with a passion for new directions in classical music. He is the founder of classYcal, a start-up dedicated to innovations in classical music including the Ynight club nights (“Best of 2013” Züritipp, “Exactly what was missing in the Swiss concert landscape” Tagesanzeiger Zurich) and the Apples&Olives Indie Classical Festival Zurich. With the music visualization approach Music:Eyes, he has toured worldwide and held two TEDx talks/performances. With his ensemble bachSpace – Bach & Electronics, he gave his Concertgebouw Amsterdam debut in 2014.

A member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and from 2004 – 2011 principal second violin of the Orchestra Mozart Bologna, both founded by Claudio Abbado, he was also an Artist-in-Residence and music curator at the Festspielhaus St.Pölten, Austria and served in the jury of the Classical:NEXT conference and the “Junge Ohren Preis”.

As a conductor, he has performed with the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa, the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and numerous other ensembles.

Etienne initiated Superar Suisse, a start-up that brings music to socially disadvantaged children, is helping to build the “Sistema Europe” network inspired by El Sistema Venezuela and is a founding member of the Impact Hub Zurich. He’s a co-founder of the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra (SEYO) which he conducted together with the Youth Orchestra of Caracas at La Scala Milano in summer 2015.