Emelyn Bashour, violinist

About

Detroit-based violinist Dr. Emelyn Bashour has performed across Europe and North and South America. A seasoned orchestral player, she currently holds positions as Principal 2nd Violin of the Detroit Opera Orchestra and Assistant Concertmaster of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. She is also a member of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music Orchestra, where she served as Acting Principal 2nd Violin for the 2025 season, and has made appearances as guest concertmaster with the Toledo Symphony. As a soloist and chamber player, Emelyn is a passionate advocate for contemporary music and has participated in the New Music Workshop of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (2022); the Cortona Sessions for New Music in Ede, Netherlands (2024), where she was a finalist in their Contemporary Performance Competition; and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra Academy (2024), where she served as concertmaster. She has performed with members of the International Contemporary Ensemble, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Hub New Music, Eighth Blackbird, and JACK Quartet, and worked with many eminent composers including Tyshawn Sorey, Nico Muhly, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Helen Grime, Errollyn Wallen, Beat Furrer, and Kevin Puts. She has been a featured performer at the Louis Moreau Institute for New Music Performance (New Orleans, LA), Detroit Institute of Arts’ Friday Night Live Series with New Music Detroit and Shara Nova of My Brightest Diamond, the Black House Collective Los Angeles Workshop, Central Michigan University’s New Music Symposium with ÆPEX Contemporary Performance, New Music Detroit’s Strange Beautiful Music series, and the Great Performances series at the Toledo Museum of Art. Her recording credits include the world premiere recording of “The Story of Patient No. 23” by Remi Inari on if you believe in the shadow… (2024), Evan Ware’s The Quietest of Whispers (2023, Neuma Records), and the GRAMMY-nominated John Luther Adams’ Sila: The Breath of the World (2022, Cantaloupe Music).

Emelyn holds degrees from Michigan State University (D.M.A., 2024), University of Michigan (M.M., 2020), the Eastman School of Music (B.M., 2018). During her studies she served as concertmaster of the MSU Symphony Orchestra and Musique21 contemporary ensemble, University of Michigan’s University Symphony Orchestra, and the Eastman Philharmonia, and she is also an alum of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School where she was assistant concertmaster of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. She has participated in many selective fellowship programs including Orpheus@Mannes (2019), Vermont Mozart Festival (2018), National Orchestral Institute (2016), and the Aspen Music Festival (2014). She was a fellow of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in 2018, 2019, and 2022, where she served as concertmaster for flagship productions of Salome (2019) and La Bohème (2022) and was engaged as a featured soloist for the 2020 season. Previous teachers include Yvonne Lam, Aaron Berofsky, Renée Jolles, and Lynn Chang, and she has performed in masterclasses for many esteemed artists including Vadim Gluzman, Midori, Julian Rachlin, Frank Huang, Xiang Gao, Lina Yu, Peter Schuhmayer, and Ilya Kaler, and members of the Takacs, Ying, Aizuri, and Calidore string quartets. She also holds a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Rochester (2018), where she was accepted into the competitive Honors English program and received the Russell A. Peck and John R. Slater Memorial Prizes for her senior thesis research. She was also inducted into the honors fraternities Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda upon graduation.

Emelyn has been a member of several distinguished Michigan-based chamber ensembles. With mixed-instrumental ensemble Girlnoise, she made debuts at Elastic Arts in Chicago and as featured artists at the 2021 New Music Gathering conference in St. Paul. With violin-cello duo Parataxis, she performed on the Tiny TOPs series of the 2021 Ann Arbor Summer Festival and at the 2021 Third Place MusicFest. Currently a member of the Detroit-based Kalkaska String Quartet, she regularly performs as a featured artist on FeverUp’s Candlelight Classical series. She also regularly performs at the Rossini Club Chamber Music Festival in Nantucket, MA, and is looking forward to co-producing an evening-length stage work for violin and soprano on the upcoming 2026 season. In addition to her work as a performer, she writes string quartet arrangements on commission, many of which can be purchased on Sheet Music Plus. When not playing violin, Emelyn enjoys doing the New York Times crossword, cooking Middle Eastern food, and rewatching The West Wing. Upcoming highlights of the 2025-2026 season include chamber music appearances at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts with members of the Rossini Club Chamber Music Festival.