Search TMA Members by Instrument

Violist and violinist Esme Allen-Creighton is a Juilliard-trained Suzuki Certified Violin Pedagogue who has worked with students of all ages across North America. Faculty positions have included: Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, Brooklyn College, State University of New York (SUNY) Potsdam, the University of Delaware, the Philadelphia Orchestra Teaching Artist Program, and most recently the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Her students have won major competitions and orchestral auditions, and have been accepted to competitive festivals, bachelor, master and doctoral university programs. She completed her Violin Pedagogy Certification at the legendary School for Strings in New York City with the late great Louise Behrend, who began one of the first Suzuki programs in North America after a life-changing trip to Japan where she worked with Dr. Suzuki first-hand. She also worked there with Allen Lieb and Katherine Gerson.

Esme began her musical studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and completed her ARCT in 2003 with a special award as the highest marked string player in Canada. She completed Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees at the Juilliard School in New York, where she was chosen as principal violist of the Juilliard Orchestra for their historic China tour. Soon after, she earned a Doctorate with Distinction from the University of Montreal, and a place in their 2006 Viola congress Canadian Music Competition.

Since graduation, Esme has toured Europe as principal violist of the Arcos Chamber Orchestra, recorded with Arcos on their CD for NEOS, and performed for four years as violist of the Serafin Quartet. With Serafin, she appeared at Carnegie Hall, on WHYY TV and WRTI radio, and toured the USA to promote critically acclaimed new release of Pullitzer prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon’s early chamber works. She has appeared in recital across North America, as well as in the Banff, Orford, Norfolk, Highlands, and Prussia Cove music festivals. Other chamber music appearances include playing with grammy-nominated Inscape Ensemble, SYMPHO at le Poisson Rouge, ‘Genius of the Brandenburgs’ with members of the New York Philharmonic, and various contemporary debuts at Merkin Concert hall with the Mimesis ensemble. Back home in Toronto, she performs with the Toronto Concert Orchestra, Toronto Chamber Players, and is a founding principle of She Plays Inc.

Beyond these roles, she is passionately committed to reaching audiences through interdisciplinary productions that feature dancers, spoken word artists, poetry, and other forms of narration. She has written numerous dramatic scripts that are interwoven with classical repertoire for Serafin Quartet concerts in non-traditional venues such as cafes, bars and comedy clubs. She has published and presented on how to engage audiences through these non -traditional approaches at the American String Teacher’s Association, Strings Magazine, and TEDx UD. Her doctoral thesis explores ideas for interactive, non-traditional concert programming for string quartets.