Instrument/Department: Violin, Suzuki Violin, Viola, Suzuki Viola
Joined Hochstein faculty in: 2023
Rachel Smith is a passionate violist and violinist who approaches music with a sense of wonder and curiosity. She studied viola performance at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany for three years before coming to Rochester to finish her undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music.
Her notable teachers and coaches have included Ruth Marie Ballance, Marcos Kreutzer, Lydia Bach, Joseph Hasten, Gunter Teuffel, and Masumi Rostad. She has also had lessons with Cynthia Roberts, Roland Glassl, Geneviève Strosser, and Asbjørn Nørgaard at various masterclasses and summer academies.
Rachel specializes in both new and early music, and has a particular love for chamber orchestra and small-ensemble playing. She performs regularly as a member of Eastman’s Collegium Musicum baroque orchestra and the Musica Nova ensemble and is an active chamber musician in project ensembles at Eastman and around Rochester.
At Hochstein, Rachel teaches primarily Suzuki violin and viola and welcomes students of all ages and levels. She focuses on mastering skills from a fundamental level, in order to build a strong technical and musical foundation for each student that is transferrable to many styles of playing. Her goal is to create highly versatile musicians who are curious, creative, confident, and perpetually fascinated by music.
More About Rachel Smith
Hometown: I come from a military family, and have lived all over the US. Most recently, I lived in Stuttgart, Germany for eight years before moving to Rochester.
What inspires me: The special connections that can happen between musicians in an ensemble, when everyone is on the same wavelength.
Why the arts matter: Music is about expression, exploring, and relationships. We play music to share something inside of ourselves that we can’t quite get out in words, and beautiful things happen when one is able to really connect with fellow musicians and listeners in this experience.
When I’m not at Hochstein, you can find me: running down East or Park Ave. listening to Danish folk music, Mendelssohn quartets, Mahler symphonies, or anything recorded by the Freiburger Barockorchester. Or at Eastman doing Eastman-y things like practicing, rehearsing, sitting in class, working 384391023 on-campus jobs and an internship, etc.
My favorite local restaurant: Java’s on Gibbs St. (college students only eat coffee).
Favorite places to travel: Germany or anywhere my siblings are
Favorite movies on my top 10 list include Chariots of Fire, Pulp Fiction, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Inglourious Basterds, Dead Poets Society, October Sky, and apparently four others I can’t think of off the top of my head.
What people would be surprised to know about me: I’m an amateur fencer (sabre!) and horseback rider!