Captivating audiences worldwide, Rabia Brooke is praised for her ability to “create that magical moment with the audience and share her interpretation, precise and clear” (Art Link, Zagreb, 2024). Known for her expressive clarity and fearless musical curiosity, she brings a distinctive voice to every stage she inhabits. Equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, she has collaborated with some of today’s most compelling musical voices. A leading advocate for 21st‑century music, she has commissioned and premiered a growing body of new works—with particular commitment to amplifying female composers—including collaborations with Shawn Okpebholo, Jennifer Higdon, Clarice Assad, Chen Yi, Lei Liang, Juhi Bansal, Elizabeth Younan, Stacy Garrop, and Mischa Zupko. Her performances have been recognized for their emotional immediacy, structural insight, and interpretive sophistication.
Recent highlights include performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the Orchestra of the North Bohemian Theater under 2025 Grammy‑nominated Maestro Loeb in the Czech Republic. She recently collaborated with principal players of the Staatsorchester Braunschweig in a special performance at the Staatstheater Braunschweig. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in major halls across Eastern Europe—Liechtenstein Palace (Bohuslav Martinů Hall, Prague), Chopin Academy of Music (Warsaw), Liszt Academy (Solti Hall, Budapest), Penderecki Academy (Aula Florianka, Krakow), Zagreb Academy of Music, and Palata Madlena (Belgrade)—as well as Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall), Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, and the Ravinia Festival, where she performed Bernstein’s Serenade alongside Maestro George Stelluto and Jamie Bernstein in celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s legacy.
Third Coast Review (2025) praised her work as “beautiful and also rather cerebral, placing her playing in a category that could be called avant‑garde for the Millennium.”
Her chamber collaborations include Rachel Barton Pine, Black Oak Ensemble with pianist Pallavi Mahidhara, the Formosa Quartet, principal players from London’s Royal Philharmonic and Royal Orchestras, members of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, and artists of Fifth House Ensemble. Her formative experiences also include participation in the Cooper International and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions; she is a recipient of the Musicians Club of Women’s Farewell Trust Award. She is also a frequent performer on Chicago’s WFMT Radio.
Festival appearances include the Kronberg Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Orford Musique, Vivace Festival, Sounding Point Academy, Musique Dans la Gers, Tibor Varga Academy, and the Curtis Institute of Music Young Artists Program, where she served as concertmaster under Joshua Gersen of the New York Philharmonic. Other projects include collaborations with Daniel Rowland for a Beethoven documentary and an appearance with Grammy‑nominated banjoist Noam Pikelny and the bluegrass band Special Consensus. She was featured in a special episode with renowned violinist Gil Shaham on Violinist.com.
Ms. Brooke, a Chicago native, currently serves as Artist‑in‑Residence for Nova Linea Musica and contributes to Chicago’s musical community through performance, curation, and new‑music advocacy. She also curates a four‑concert season for The CheckOut, a new Chicago venue where she presents innovative programs that bridge contemporary and traditional repertoire. She holds a BM from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Joseph Lin and Cathy Cho. She performs on the 1731 Lady Jeanne violin by Antonio Stradivarius, made possible through a generous loan.
