The violinist Esther Abrami has stirred up some controversy with a career built largely by skillful social media marketing and fashion consultants. Few would pick her for virtuosity; her sound on the violin is thin but graceful. However, she is offering something different from the usual run, and those presenting classical music could benefit from paying attention to what she is doing. Women, released in 2025, is far from a parade of crossover favorites. In fact, there is a good deal of music here that most listeners will not know, some of it arranged for violin and orchestra, chamber ensemble, or piano by Abrami. All the pieces are composed, at least in part, by women. Abrami's young listenership will be gratified by the inclusion of a Miley Cyrus song, Flowers, but the program then veers into an arrangement for violin, harp, and string quartet of the song Hai Luli! by Pauline Viardot and then to Ilse Weber's Theresienstadt lullaby Wiegala, arranged by Abrami. Later comes Hildegard von Bingen and a sizable concerto by the Irish composer Ina Boyle that only the hardcore of listeners to the music of the British Isles will know. The results may be a bit of a mixed bag, but they encourage listeners to explore unfamiliar music rather than relying on their existing prejudices, and there is no way this is a bad thing. Abrami gets attentive support from the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, a variety of pianists, and her own Esther Abrami Chamber Ensemble, all of whom might have merited a bit more mention in the credits. If players like Abrami are going to be a branch of classical music in the future, one could do a lot worse. ~ James Manheim