Basma Edrees is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she received her Masters in Violin Performance and Mannes School of Music where she received her Bachelors degree. She studied with Joseph Lin, Laurie Smukler, Sally Thomas, and Catherine Van Hoesen. Basma has performed under the batons of many great conductors including Alan Gilbert and Daniel Barenboim. Basma has served as Associate Concert Master of the Oakland Symphony during their 2015-2016 season. She has also been invited to sub for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, San Jose Opera Orchestra as well as the Santa Rosa Symphony.
Basma has performed as a soloist in various countries including the USA, Montenegro, Ethiopia and her native country, Egypt.
Equally at home with Arabic music, Basma performed with renowned musicians from the Arab world and has been invited to give Arabic Music workshops at UC Berkeley and Stanford. She has taught Arabic music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She is also a member of the Arabic Music faculty at Labyrinth; one of the leading educational institutions of modal music. She has held the position of Music Director of the Aswat Women Ensemble for four years; an all female Bay Area community ensemble specializing in Arab music. She also served as the co-manager and instructor of the Aswat Women Empowerment Program during their 2019 Fall season; a program designed to empower women of Arab descent through the study of their own rich musical tradition.
Through the music of Astor Piazzolla, Basma was introduced to the world of Argentine Tango music where she encountered some of the most beautiful lyrical melodies she had ever heard. Playing Tango, Basma found a medium where her Western classical training and the sentiments of her Arab musical heritage could come together. Basma studied Tango violin with Guillermo Rubino, who is the director of strings at the Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce.
Basma’s proficiency in Music Theory earned her assistant teaching positions as well as teaching fellowships at The Juilliard School while she was a student there. She studied Counterpoint with Robert Cuckson and Philippe Lasser. She has passed this knowledge onto her students as a member of the Music Theory faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where she taught the art of Counterpoint herself. Basma is also a certified Suzuki violin teacher with an expertise in starting beginner students of all ages on the violin. She also teaches the violin on the collegiate level at Santa Clara University.
Website: https://basmaedreesviolin.com/