Biography

Abby Abdel-Khalek was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA to an Egyptian father and American mother. A violin was put into her hands at the tender age of five and by the time she was thirteen after an opportunity to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, she declared that she wanted to become a professional violinist. Abby then went on to study at the Colburn School with Henry Gronnier until she was admitted to the Cleveland Institute of Music under a merit scholarship. Shortly thereafter, Abby returned to Los Angeles to pursue an internship at Hans Zimmer's studio Remote Control Productions where she also had the opportunity to perform solo violin for multiple composers. She can be heard on numerous shows such as BBC's "Planet Earth II", and "The Strain" among others. Additionally, in 2014 she joined forced with Ann Marie Calhoun and Michael Einziger to create String Mob, a string contracting company. They worked with artists such as Pharrell, Justin Bieber, Pentatonix, Steve Martin, and Skrillex among others. 

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In 2016 Abby traveled regularly to Chicago to study with famed pedagogues Roland and Almita Vamos. She can be seen as a session violinist on multiple projects and in 2020 she began her next career venture into film scoring. The films she has scored have garnered international recognition - her films have premiered at Palm Springs Shortsfest (2023), Cairo International Film Festival, Marrakech Film Festival, and the Arab Film Festival to name a few. Currently, she is scoring "Leaving Lebanon" a short film by Sophia Youssef which is sponsored in part by Disney. In addition to scoring for film, Abby has a strong desire to give back and has collaborated with Human Rights Watch. She hopes to use her musical gifts to make a difference in the world.