Swedish born Rachel Harris began her baroque violin studies at the Welsh College of Music and Drama with Clare Salaman. After completing her studies with distinction she went on to a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music in London with Alison Bury. She was awarded the prestigious Countess of Munster and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarships for her postgraduate studies in England and Germany. Her postgraduate studies were continued in Trossingen and Würzburg, Germany, where she concluded her soloist studies (Solistendiplom) with Gottfried von der Goltz, leader of the Freiburger Barockorchester. She also plays the viola, viola d’amore and bass viol. In her free time she plays the horn. She is currently creating music for use in a solo programme with looper.
She has performed as a soloist with Cantus Cölln, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Lautten Compagney Berlin and La Banda Augsburg, with whom she has made a DVD recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Other ensembles she has played with include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium and St. James’s Baroque, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Reinlandpfalz.
She has been member of the English chamber music ensemble The Brook Street Band since 1997 and is the leader and director of Ensemble Schirokko Hamburg, which she formed in 2007. She has produced numerous CDs with both ensembles to critical acclaim.
In 2017 she released her solo CD »augustes auspices«, a complete recording of J.S. Bach’s solo Sonatas and Partitas, as well as J.P. von Westhoff’s six Suites for solo violin. She can be heard regularly in concert with extracts from this recording.
Furthermore there is a portrait of Rachel Harris in the book “Hier spielt die Musik! Tonangebende Frauen in der Klassikszene” (“This is were the music is! Leading women in the classical music scene”) by Brigitte Beier and Karina Schmidt, AvivA Verlag, September 2011.
She has written a “Guidelines for playing in an orchestra“. These guidelines are aimed at string players in the early music scene and focus on orchestral technique and codes of practise.
Rondo magazine: “great enthusiasm and spontaneity … dexterity and intellect … perfect technique”
Swedish born Rachel Harris began her baroque violin studies at the Welsh College of Music and Drama with Clare Salaman. After completing her studies with distinction she went on to a postgraduate at the Royal College of Music in London with Alison Bury. She was awarded the prestigious Countess of Munster and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarships for her postgraduate studies in England and Germany. Her postgraduate studies were continued in Trossingen and Würzburg, Germany, where she concluded her soloist studies (Solistendiplom) with Gottfried von der Goltz, leader of the Freiburger Barockorchester. She also plays the viola, viola d’amore and bass viol. In her free time she plays the horn. She is currently creating music for use in a solo programme with looper.
She has performed as a soloist with Cantus Cölln, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Lautten Compagney Berlin and La Banda Augsburg, with whom she has made a DVD recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Other ensembles she has played with include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium and St. James’s Baroque, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Reinlandpfalz.
She has been member of the English chamber music ensemble The Brook Street Band since 1997 and is the leader and director of Ensemble Schirokko Hamburg, which she formed in 2007. She has produced numerous CDs with both ensembles to critical acclaim.
In 2017 she released her solo CD »augustes auspices«, a complete recording of J.S. Bach’s solo Sonatas and Partitas, as well as J.P. von Westhoff’s six Suites for solo violin. She can be heard regularly in concert with extracts from this recording.
Furthermore there is a portrait of Rachel Harris in the book “Hier spielt die Musik! Tonangebende Frauen in der Klassikszene” (“This is were the music is! Leading women in the classical music scene”) by Brigitte Beier and Karina Schmidt, AvivA Verlag, September 2011.
She has written a “Guidelines for playing in an orchestra“. These guidelines are aimed at string players in the early music scene and focus on orchestral technique and codes of practise.
Rondo magazine: “great enthusiasm and spontaneity … dexterity and intellect … perfect technique”