Nomi Abadi is an American born Syrian-Egyptian Jewish pianist, vocalist, actor and activist. In November 2019, she played piano on the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominated album ''Sekou Andrews & The String Theory'' nominated in 2020 in the category of Best Spoken Word Album.

Early life

A piano prodigy born of four generations of piano teachers, Abadi's musical career began with a concert with the Orange County Chamber Orchestra as their youngest soloist ever at age 5, playing a

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

concerto. Growing up in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

, California, Abadi was homeschooled by her mother and taught piano by her father, the late classical and ragtime pianist Marden Abadi. At age 8, she began professional training in classical piano at the

Mannes School of Music Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School cam ...

after auditioning at

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

. She graduated early from the

Orange County School of the Arts Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA, ), is a 7th–12th grade public charter school located in downtown Santa Ana, California. The school caters to middle and high school students with talents in the performing, visual, literary arts, cul ...

at age 16 and attended the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related art ...

Music career

Abadi has composed original music for concerts, more than 20 film and video games including the movie ''Sebastian'' starring

Darius McCrary Darius Creston McCrary (born May 1, 1976) is an American actor, rapper, singer and producer. McCrary is known for his role as Edward "Eddie" Winslow, the oldest child of Carl and Harriette Winslow on the ABC/CBS television sitcom ''Family Matter ...

and ''Gothic Springs'' (2019) starring Peyton List. Her video game composing includes original music, sound design and voicing three characters in ''The Clairvoyant AR'', and music for ''Star Twin Locator'' both produced by Weird Sisters. ''The Clairvoyant AR'' was featured at the San Diego Game Jam and invited via the Playcrafting organization to participate in the Bose Game Jam at the

Bose Bose may refer to: * Bose (crater), a lunar crater * ''Bose'' (film), a 2004 Indian Tamil film starring Srikanth and Sneha * Bose (surname), a surname (and list of people with the name) * Bose, Italy, a ''frazioni'' in Magnano, Province of Biella ...

AR Platform at

PAX West PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston and Philadelphia in the United States; and Melbourne in Australia. PAX wa ...

in 2019. Abadi has composed and performed her own solo projects since 2012 and five solo EPs. Abadi received praise for her ''Omega'' release from buzzbands.la, who called the song "a lush, cascading pop track built around an acrobatic piano line". Her vocals are featured in Satanic Planet's 2021 self-titled LP release on the track ''Devil In Me'' which she co-wrote, singing poetry by

Satanic Temple The Satanic Temple, often abbreviated TST, is a nontheistic religious organization that is primarily based in the United States, with additional congregations in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Co-founded by Lucien Greaves, the orga ...

founder

Lucien Greaves Douglas Mesner, better known as Lucien Greaves, is a social activist and the spokesman and co-founder (alongside Malcolm Jarry) of The Satanic Temple. Biography Greaves was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. His mother was a Protestant ...

. Following the success of ''Sekou Andrews and the String Theory'', Abadi joined ''String Theory'' on their album ''The Los Angeles Suite'', featuring artists

Jens Kuross Jens Kuross is an American singer-songwriter and musician based in Idaho. He is an active member of The Acid and has previously performed as a member of Howling and RY X. Personal life Jens was born in Seattle, Washington, but moved to Ketc ...

, SORNE,

Shana Halligan Shana Beth Halligan (born October 11, 1973) is a singer, songwriter, and composer based out of Los Angeles, California best known for her work as the former vocalist for the trip-hop act Bitter:Sweet. She is the daughter of Dick Halligan, a fou ...

Vōx and Addie Hamilton.

NORY double synth/keytar

In 2017, Abadi invented the double

keytar The keytar is a lightweight synthesizer that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboard ...

. The NORY Double Synth was approved for a

US Patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

in 2019. Nomi premiered her ''Quartet for NORY® in E Minor'' at Video Game Music Con Puerto Rico in 2023.

Discography and reception (2012-2023)

*2012 - ''Chase/No Running (LP)'' *2015 - ''Nomi Abadi (EP)'' *2016 - ''Omega (EP)'' *2020 - ''Animals (Single)'' *2023 - ''Heavy Reign (EP)''

Activism

In 2020, Abadi founded the Female Composer Safety League, a public charity under IRC code 501(c)(3), which states that its mission is to provide networking, resources, community, support and allyship to up-and-coming women composers. According to a 2023 article in ''The Guardian'', FCSL was launched after Nomi held two gender safety panels at

GameSoundCon GameSoundCon is a conference and seminar on videogame music and video game sound design. GameSoundCon began as a multi-city conference providing seminars occurring 2-4 times per year in various cities in the US on creating music and sound effects ...

and has attracted hundreds of members.

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

cites that "Nomi vowed to expose the toxic, abusive work conditions that run rampant behind the closed doors of soundtrack composing studios" as "one of Hollywood's last dirty secrets". Ahead of the

MusiCares MusiCares Foundation is a non-profit organization established in 1989 and incorporated in 1993 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Meant for musicians to have a place to turn in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis, ...

gala preceding the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It will recognize the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2021, to September 30 ...

, Nomi spoke at a press conference in Downtown Los Angeles citing that the time for sexual predators in music is "over." In 2022, Abadi led a coalition to break the silence on sexual abuse at the

, gaining the support of local residents, alumni and parents, and organizations including the chairwoman and dozens of members of the Orange County Democratic Party. After three appearances by the coalition at the Orange County Board of Education public board meetings the OCBE agreed to issue an investigation into OCSA. The

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...

has reported on at least three lawsuits involving OCSA faculty, including Ralph Opacic, OCSA's founder. In 2023, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' reported that Abadi had accused composer

Danny Elfman Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the singer-songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since the 1990s, Elfman has garnered internation ...

of sexually harassing her between 2015 and 2017. According to the magazine's reporting, Abadi and Elfman signed a

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is a legal contract or part of a contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties wish to share with one another for certain purposes, but wish ...

in 2018, with Elfman agreeing to pay Abadi $830,000 if she did not publicize her allegations against him. After ''Rolling Stone'' publicly revealed the existence of this agreement, Elfman denied the allegations, and said that he only agreed to the settlement because he feared that his "50-year career may be destroyed in one news cycle" if the claims had been published. In accordance with Abadi's wishes, part of the settlement helped establish her

nonprofit foundation A foundation (also a charitable foundation) is a category of nonprofit organization or charitable trust that typically provides funding and support for other charitable organizations through grants, but may also engage directly in charitable act ...

, the Female Composer Safety League. Elfman had defaulted on payments to the League, causing Abadi to file a breach of contract suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. A second accuser filed a sexual assault lawsuit against Elfman on October 19, 2023.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abadi, Nomi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Musicians from Los Angeles Orange County School of the Arts alumni American women pianists American people of Egyptian descent Musicians from Orange County, California Jewish American musicians American people of Syrian descent American people of Syrian-Jewish descent Syrian Jews