Adam Chalabi was born in 1977 and began his violin studies at the age of 4 with the Suzuki Method. His early teachers were Alison Apley and Felicity Lipman. He subsequently attended the junior department of Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Purcell School of Music before completing his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester under the tutelage of Maciej Rakowski. During his studies there, Adam was leader of all the conservatoire orchestras and first violin in the Chalabi String Quartet with whom he performed extensively throughout the UK between 1996-99 and was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 as part of the Manchester Composer Platform and Manchester Cello Festival. He participated in masterclasses with Yehudi Menuhin, Mauricio Fuks and members of the Vermeer and Ysaye Quartets. In 2000, Adam graduated from RNCM with a BA and PPRNCM-the highest performance based qualification available at the college.

After a year of freelance engagements in Manchester with the Halle, Manchester Camerata and BBC Philharmonic orchestras, Adam won a position in the Zuerich Chamber Orchestra (Zürcher Kammerorchester/ ZKO) 1st violin group in 2001. In 2004 he moved to the position of Principal 2nd violin which he held until 2009. As a member of ZKO, he has toured throughout Europe, America and Asia and played in some of the major concert halls of the world. In Switzerland he has also worked as Principal 2nd violin in Camerata Bern and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and during 2008/9 as Guest Concertmaster of Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg in Austria and Suedwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim in Germany. He has worked under such renowned conductors as Roger Norrington, Simon Rattle, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Marek Janowski. In 2009 Adam was appointed to the position of Concertmaster of Orchestra Victoria in Melbourne (performance partner of Australian Opera and Ballet in Melbourne as well as Victorian Opera), a position he currently holds.

Adam has appeared as soloist on numerous occasions with the Zuerich Chamber Orchestra in performances of Bach, Vivaldi and Schnittke Concerti and has also given performances of the Nielsen Violin Concerto in Manchester, England and Karlskrona, Sweden as well as the world premiere of the then updated edition of Alban Berg‘s Chamber Concerto at the RNCM in 1999.

Adam was a member of the Epos String Quartet between 2006-2008 based in Feldkirch, Austria and made several broadcasts on Austrian radio (ORF) including performances of Schoenberg’s Verklaerte Nacht and Schubert’s String Quintet. He was also a member of the Basel String Quartet in Switzerland with whom he has a pending CD release of never previously recorded quartets by the Swiss/Hungarian composer Sandor Veress. In 2008, he was invited to play with the Linos Ensemble in Germany and to record the chamber version of Mahler’s ´Song of the Earth` soon to be released on the Capriccio label.

Adam was professor of violin in 2007/8 at the Landeskonservatorium Vorarlberg in Feldkirch,Austria. He was also string coach and leader of the youth string ensemble Capriccio in Manchester between 1998-2001.

Adam plays on an 1805 Joseph Panormo violin purchased in 2000 from Sotheby’s auction house. He is also very grateful to have been the recipient of generous scholarships and funding from the Countess of Munster, Ian Fleming and Lawrence Atwell Charitable Foundations.