Rachel Hsieh is a Grammy award-winning cellist based in Chicago. Rachel has been appointed principal cello of Peoria Symphony and she is a member of Northwest Indiana Symphony. She is also an award-winning chamber musician and a member of the Music Alive Ensemble, based in New Orleans.
Rachel enjoys working with numerous movie, television, and recording artists, including Judy Collins, Edgar Meyer, Maggie Koerner, Tyler Perry, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, and Idina Menzel. She has arranged and composed music for multiple organizations, including Big Freedia with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
She has appeared in television shows such as "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "NCIS: New Orleans," "Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre,” and "Sacrifice." She is a multi-year winner of Gambit Magazine’s Best Chamber Music Performance award.
Rachel has participated in numerous festivals and projects, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the New Music On the Bayou contemporary music festival, Voodoo Fest, the Castleton Festival orchestra with Lorin Maazel, the YouTube Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas, and the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria.
Rachel holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the University of Michigan, where she studied with Erling Blöndal Bengtsson. She was the recipient of the Gregor Piatigorsky Scholarship at the Peabody Conservatory, where she earned a master’s degree and a graduate performance diploma under the tutelage of Alan Stepansky, former associate principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic.
Rachel is a native of Flint, Michigan. When she’s not performing or practicing, she can be found working on her skateboard tricks or cooking for her family.
Rachel enjoys working with numerous movie, television, and recording artists, including Judy Collins, Edgar Meyer, Maggie Koerner, Tyler Perry, Branford Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, and Idina Menzel. She has arranged and composed music for multiple organizations, including Big Freedia with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
She has appeared in television shows such as "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "NCIS: New Orleans," "Tulsa Burning: The 1921 Race Massacre,” and "Sacrifice." She is a multi-year winner of Gambit Magazine’s Best Chamber Music Performance award.
Rachel has participated in numerous festivals and projects, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the New Music On the Bayou contemporary music festival, Voodoo Fest, the Castleton Festival orchestra with Lorin Maazel, the YouTube Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas, and the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria.
Rachel holds a bachelor’s degree in cello performance at the University of Michigan, where she studied with Erling Blöndal Bengtsson. She was the recipient of the Gregor Piatigorsky Scholarship at the Peabody Conservatory, where she earned a master’s degree and a graduate performance diploma under the tutelage of Alan Stepansky, former associate principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic.
Rachel is a native of Flint, Michigan. When she’s not performing or practicing, she can be found working on her skateboard tricks or cooking for her family.
