about

Abigail Burrows enjoys a varied musical career; working as a performer, workshop leader, innovator and teacher. She is a Haynes Artist and currently teaches at The Purcell School and Royal Academy of Music junior department.

Abbie has led and designed numerous outreach programmes and is the founder of eFlute Festival, a pioneering sell-out online event. The mission was to bring flute players together during the first COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 and the festival was a huge success; running for a month, employing over 40 renowned guest artists and scheduling over 60 concerts, workshops and masterclasses for players of every age and standard from all over the world. The final gala concert raised over £1,000 for NHS Charities Together and Help Musicians UK.

A hybrid Festival: eFlute LIVE, is scheduled for 2022.

solo & Chamber

As a soloist and chamber musician, Abbie has performed extensively throughout the UK, playing at concert venues including The Southbank, Wigmore Hall, LSO St Luke's, Cadogan Hall, The Anvil, Birmingham Symphony Hall, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Bridgewater Hall, as well as internationally throughout Europe, Africa, Australia and America. Career highlights include playing the solo flute part of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no.5 with The Philharmonia (Switzerland tour), performing a solo at Dubai Opera House with the Arabian Philharmonic, tours of Russia (soloist with the Novgorod Philharmonic Orchestra) and Germany (guest solo artist with the New English Singers, performing Bach Sonatas in Hallé, Dresden, Berlin and Bach’s Thomas Kirche in Leipzig), and an invitation to play at a Jethro Tull concert at The Barbican, performing a duet with the legendary rock-flautist Ian Anderson. Originally from Milton Keynes, she frequently returns to her hometown as a recitalist and soloist with the Cornerstone Chamber Orchestra. She has also played for the Royal Family at St James's Palace, Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, and to the Prime Minister and Mayor of London at Southwark Cathedral.

Abbie has also been an invited Guest Artist at the National Flute Association Convention (Chicago and Orlando), Adams International Flute Festival (Netherlands), Aflaup Festival (Porto, Portugal), Polish Flute Festival (Katowice), Flute Fest! (Iceland), Spanish Flute Convention (Valencia), La Côte Festival (Switzerland) and Australian Flute Festival (Bisbane and Sydney).

Orchestras & Shows

As a freelance orchestral player, Abbie has worked with the Philharmonia, National Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Heritage Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and London Concert Orchestra, as well as numerous west-end shows. She has recorded in many of London’s studios for labels including Sony, Universal and Decca classics, and playing on numerous TV and Film soundtracks, including the new upcoming Batman movie. Commercially, she has worked with artists ranging from Andrea Bocelli to Pete Tong, and played at music festivals including Latitude, End of the Road, and Glastonbury. 

In the pit, she has held chairs on the UK Tours of Les Misèrables, Wicked and The King and I as well as Oliver! (Curve Theatre, Leicester), Flowers for Mrs Harris (Sheffield Crucible and Chichester Festival), Fiddler on the Roof (Chichester Festival), and played flute and recorders on Pinocchio at the National Theatre. She has been a deputy on Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, An American in Paris, Half a Sixpence and Miss Saigon.

teaching

Abbie teaches at The Purcell School and Royal Academy of Music junior department. She is also a teaching deputy at Junior Guildhall and Junior Trinity, as well as doing deputy teaching, chamber music coaching and leading a workshop at Trinity Laban. She has led masterclasses, flute choirs and workshops around the world, as well as working as an ensemble coach, audition panellist and competition adjudicator. She has been a guest tutor on numerous flute festivals, events and music courses, working with thousands of flute players of all ages. Her creative (and unorthodox!) teaching style has earned her an international reputation, with several of her workshops being scheduled in flute festivals, courses and events across the UK, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Iceland, Poland, Holland, Hong Kong, Spain, Kenya and America.

Abbie is a keen supporter of Flutewise, assisting Liz Goodwin (Founder) on their events and residential courses since 2006. She has also been a resident tutor for Flute School London courses for over ten years and been Director of the Junior Day at the Australian Flute Festival since 2015, designing and running a varied programme of activities for young people of all standards.

Abbie runs eFlute Academy with Janna Hüneke, a popular online teaching platform for adults and also has a successful instagram and youtube channel 2 Flute Loops with Clare Jefferis, aimed at very young players.

Outreach

Abbie was a Concordia International Artist and Ambassador for many years, performing concerts and running many of their education projects as their Outreach Manager. She travelled to Nairobi with Concordia for the Lord Mayor of London's official visit, giving concerts at the Braeburn Theatre, Muthaiga Country Club, and British High Commission, as well as running workshops in schools and orphanages. She also wrote and directed large-scale children’s productions at Wilton’s Music Hall, Union Chapel and Toynbee Hall, as well as running a ‘Concordia Fife Club Project', working with over 500 primary school children in London.

Abbie has given hundreds of interactive concerts and workshops in primary, secondary and special schools, day centres for adults, care homes, hospitals, adult psychiatric centres, hospices and prisons. She was a Live Music Now artist for four years and is now a mentor and audition panellist for the scheme. She has worked on various projects across the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands for the BBC (Ten Pieces and Proms Family Workshops), Music in Hospitals, Music-for-Life, Hospital Arts, Help Musicians UK, Fresh Arts, Reminiscence Learning and The Healing Music Trust. She regularly spends a week in Bristol every year with 2 Flute Loops, playing in hospital foyers and wards, running sessions for Music & Memories and working with the PlayTeam at Bristol Children's Hospital. 

Background

Abbie began learning the flute aged 7 and within a year was offered a place at the Purcell School. She studied there for nine years with Anna Pope and was awarded one of the schools most prestigious scholarships. She had a busy performing schedule from a very early age and was invited to play as a soloist for HRH Prince of Wales in a private concert at St James's Palace aged 12 and made her concerto debut at London’s Royal Festival Hall aged 14. She continued her education at the Royal College of Music with Susan Milan but left the institution before completing her degree. Feeling ‘burnt out’, she quit the flute entirely for 5 years before returning to it with renewed love and enthusiasm, and has never regretted it. She restarted her studies privately with Michael Cox and Robert Winn.

Abbie is very proud to be a Haynes Artist, playing on a custom-made gold flute, generously supported by the Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust. She currently lives on a houseboat on the River Medway.