B i o g r a p h y

     Violinist Rachel Saul, originally from Tucson, Arizona, performs and teaches with an enthusiastic passion for music and its life changing benefits.  Rachel feels fortunate to currently live in Honolulu and is a member of the Hawai'i Symphony Orchestra. 

     She has enjoyed performing with the HSO since 2012, and also performs with orchestras such as the  

Hawai'i Opera Theatre, Tucson Symphony  Orchestra, Tucson Pops Orchestra, Hawai'i Pops, Maui Chamber Orchestra, Maui Pops Orchestra, Hawai'i Performing Arts Festival, AIMS in Graz Festival Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

​

     This year in 2019, Rachel performed with international superstar EMINEM at the Aloha Stadium. She has recorded on the albums of local artists Paula Fuga and Mike Love, in addition to appearing live in concerts at HPR’s Atherton Studio, Doris Duke’s Shangri La, and with Taimane at Blue Note Hawaii. 

​

    A graduate of Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music, she received her Bachelor of Music (B.Mus) studying under Gerardo Ribeiro, where she was a recipient of the Captain Maxwell W. Balfour Endowed Scholarship. During her undergraduate years at Northwestern, Rachel often held leadership positions with the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Victor Yampolsky. She received her Master of Music (M.Mus) degree from Boston University College of Fine Arts studying under Peter Zazofsky.

​

    Rachel made her solo debut appearing as a featured soloist with the Tucson Pops Orchestra in 2006, performing the Bruch Violin Concerto. Over a decade later, she enjoys performing with outstanding local Hawaiian talent; she has performed live at the Blue Note Hawaii and the Make a Wish Hawaii Foundation Gala with the Hot Club of Hulaville, and during a televised live appearance with four-category nominee and Hawaii favorite Sean Na'auao at the 2016 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. Rachel recorded on Mike Love's albums, "Love Will Find a Way" and "Love Overflowing." At the Joyful Mele gala, she performed with local talents and TV/Broadway star Raul Esparza. Her real big TV break was during a few seconds cameo as a member of a string quartet playing at a wedding ceremony on the hit TV show Hawaii 5-0. ;-)

     Rachel has enjoyed experience as Concertmaster

for the Benefit Orchestra in Honolulu, Palaver Strings,

BU Choral Society Orchestra, BU Chamber Orchestra,

BU Opera Orchestra, and the North Shore Chamber 

Orchestra among others, often responsible for substantial solos. With the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Maestro Benjamin Zander, she performed at several of Boston's premiere halls: NEC's Jordan Hall, Harvard's Sanders Theatre and the BSO's renowned Symphony Hall.  At several chamber recitals in Boston, she performed the full original version of Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat, "A Soldier's Tale."

​

      

    In 2014, Rachel performed Handel's opera Julius Caesar in a baroque chamber orchestra at the Hawai’i Performing Arts Festival. She has participated in the American Institue for Musical Studies (AIMS) Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria for three years (2010-12), performing in Austria's second largest concert hall Grazer Congress Stefaniensaal, on tour in the Styrian province and in a series of chamber music concerts. Additional summer music festivals she has performed with include the National Orchestral Institute, performing one week as Principal Second Violin, Atlantic Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music, Rocky Ridge Music Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp, and Chamber Music in the Mountains.  Selected for the prestigious Atlantic Music Festival Fellowship in 2009, she collaborated with many world renowned artists such as violinist Jamie Laredo.     

    Chamber music is Rachel's true passion, and she has received master classes and coachings with renowned world-class String Quartets such as the Muir, Pacifica, Takács, Pro Arte, Chiara, St. Petersburg, Miami, Chester, and Vermeer String Quartets. Experience with other professional chamber and symphonic musicians include masterclasses and coachings by Lucia Lin of the Boston Symphony, Paul Roby and Amy Oshiro of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Katherine Murdock, Peter Slowik, Matthias Tacke, Peter Lloyd, Charles Pickler, Li-Kuo Chang, and Peter Salaff, among others. In addition, Rachel has appeared as a soloist in masterclasses with Emanuel Borok, the late Roman Totenberg and Simin Ganatra.  

    When not playing violin, she loves soaking up the sun and hiking in Hawai'i and enjoys performance and teaching opportunities in the community. Recent chamber music appearances include a recital in Tucson, at Medici's in Manoa, Punahou Faculty Recital, Hawai'i Public Radio's Atherton Performing Arts Studio, the University of Hawai'i Contemporary Music Ensemble, as well as guest appearances at University of Hawai'i at Manoa faculty chamber recitals. In the fall of 2013, she co-founded the new After-School Strings Program at the Mid-Pacific Institute Elementary, and is a Teaching Artist with Kalikolehua - El Sistema Hawai’i. Additionally, she maintains a private violin studio and coaches chamber music at Punahou Music School.