Rachel has served as the concertmaster of both MYA’s Concert and Symphony Orchestras for four years.
Rachel Stenzel, age 17, is a student of Almita Vamos. She began her musical training on the piano at age five and began studying the violin at age nine. A home schooled senior, she is actively involved in Midwest Young Artists (MYA) where she has been a Named Merit Scholarship Award recipient for the past two years. Currently the concertmaster of MYA’s Symphony Orchestra, she has served as the concertmaster of both their Concert and Symphony Orchestras for four years.
Through MYA’s Chamber Music Program, Rachel’s string quartet (formerly Quartet Morina and the Meshugene Quartet) was the Bronze Medalist at the 2013 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. They have also won first and second place in the St. Paul String Quartet Competition (2013 and 2012), first place in the 2012 Rembrandt Chamber Music Competition, and they were the overall winners in the Discover National Chamber Music Competition (2011). The group was also invited to perform on WFMT’s (98.7 FM) Introductions program, NPR’s From the Top, and was featured at the 2012 annual From the Top Gala.
In 2010 she was the overall winner in the MYA Division of the Walgreen’s National Concerto Competition, performing Bloch’s Nigun from Baal Shem with MYA’s Concert Orchestra; she also received honorable mention in the senior division in 2012. As a winner of the 2012 DePaul Concerto Festival she performed the second movement of Bruch’s Violin Concerto in G minor with the Oistrach Symphony Orchestra. She also received honorable mention in the finals of the West Suburban Symphony Concerto Competition and has won both the junior and senior divisions of the Mendelssohn Chandler Starr Miller Scholarship Competition. Twice she has been invited to solo with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, performing concertos by Viotti and Mozart; she has also performed Saint Saens’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso with the NIU CSA Orchestra as winner of their concerto competition. She has been invited to solo with the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra and will be performing Saint Saens’ Havanaise in April of 2014.
In the summers of 2011 and 2013 she was one of twelve students chosen to participate in the Brian Lewis Young Artist Program; she also attended the Heifetz International Music Institute in 2012 and the Castleman Quartet Program in 2013. In addition to playing with her youth orchestra and string quartet, Rachel enjoys performing at church and other venues, such as retirement centers or community events.
Program:
Beethoven: Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23
1. Presto
Bach: Partita No. 1 in B minor
1. Allemanda and Double
Wieniawski: Polonaise de concert No. 1 in D Major, Op. 4
Kreisler: Rondino (On a theme by Beethoven)
Kreisler: Danse Espagnole from La Vida Breve by Manuel De Falla
Prokofiev: Violin Sonata No. 1 in F minor, Op. 80
1. Andante assai
2. Allegro brusco