Soloist, recitalist, chamber musician and orchestral director, Nazrin’s musical acumen is creating a unique place for her in the music world. She made her solo debut at the age of three in one of the most prestigious palaces in Baku. Just half a year later, she performed in the Anglo-American University in Cairo. At the same time, she was already appearing with orchestras in the Egyptian Capital. She was an experienced international performer by the time the Cairo Opera House awarded her a Gold Medal after an exceptional solo recital as a six-year-old. Establishing FeMusa – Britain’s first female chamber orchestra since the 1950’s – in 2008 is merely the latest string to an already accomplished bow.
Nazrin was accepted at The Purcell School of Music in 1995 and was the first pupil in the history of the school to have played on a 1/4 size violin gifted to the school by the Royal family. In 1998, aged ten, Nazrin became the youngest semi-finalist in the history of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition and was invited by Lord Menuhin to open the Gala concert of the Competition. In 2003, Nazrin was exceptionally accepted to study at The Royal Academy of Music at the age of 15, and graduated in 2009 with a Master of Music Degree, Diploma and Regency Award for Notable Achievement. During her studies at the Academy and the Purcell School, Nazrin studied with renowned professors Erich Gruenberg, Felix Andrievsky and Lydia Mordkovich, and she has also performed in masterclasses for Lord Yehudi Menuhin, Maxim Vengerov, Lewis Kaplan and Sylvia Rosenberg.
Between 2011 and 2015, Nazrin was selected as a Cultural Ambassador for BP, having performed for them at various major events, including the London Olympics (2012), the ‘20th Caspian Oil and Gas’ Exhibition and in the ‘Contract of the Century’ celebrations in Azerbaijan. She has also given numerous concerts and recitals in the U.S.A, Brussels, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Switzerland, Egypt, Oman, Japan and at London’s important concert halls. Her extensive repertoire encompasses almost 40 Concertos and over 300 Chamber and Virtuoso works.
Nazrin is pursuing a PhD at the Royal Academy of Music, where her research explores Emile Sauret and a first recording of his 24 Etudes Caprices. The first volume was released on Naxos in June 2017 and recently featured on BBC Radio 3. Nazrin has had the opportunity to play on a very valuable and rare collection of violins by the great violin maker, Antonio Stradivari, and she was also the first student in the history of the Royal Academy of Music to be lent the ‘1707 Castelbarco’ violin for a long-term period of two years. She now plays on a violin after G.B Guadagnini Milan 1753, ‘Straus’, (Royal Academy of Music Collection) by David Rattray, London 2009, with an 1890 Lamy bow, generously gifted to her by James Smillie.
