The Multifaceted Career: Hilary Abigana

Longy School of Music of Bard College is proud to present The Multifaceted Career Speaker Series featuring conversations with musicians who defy categorization. As an essential component of Longy’s career coaching program, this series fosters an exploration of how we (re)define individual success in our diverse and growing field.

Hilary Abigana is a founding member and flutist for the hybrid arts ensemble, The Fourth Wall. Praised by The Wall Street Journal for their “deft choreography,” The Fourth Wall explores a new hybrid of the performing arts in which musicians are also dancers and actors. Stretching the boundaries of instrumental performance, The Fourth Wall commissions new interdisciplinary works and reinterprets established repertoire to make music that leaps off the stage. In 2017, they made their Off-Broadway debut at the SoHo Playhouse after completing a three-month long tour along the fringe festival circuit in North America with their multi-award winning neo-vaudeville variety show, Fruit Flies Like a Banana. Their current show, Fallen from the Toy Box, received five stars from the Canadian Broadcasting Company and the Winnipeg Free Press and has been described as “so beautiful, you might get a little verklempt”.  In addition to performing hybrid arts shows, The Fourth Wall travels all over the continent conducting workshops in the basics of this genre, and encouraging participants to utilize music, dance, and theater techniques in their performances. 

Most recently, Hilary premiered Alexandra Gardner’s Fade for Flute and Electronics which was commissioned by the National Flute Association. She has premiered works by numerous living composers including her brother, Brett Abigaña, who is based in Massachusetts. 

Hilary received her Bachelor of Music degree with Distinction and Performer’s Certificate from The Eastman School of Music and her Masters Degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. 

Hilary is a proud Verne Q. Powell Flutes Artist.