Bio
Soprano Rachel Carlson enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber ensemble singer, conductor, and voice teacher based in the Washington, DC area. Ms. Carlson has appeared as a soloist with the Washington Master Chorale, Washington Bach Consort, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tucson Chamber Artists, Festival Chorus of Madison, Potomac River Chorale, and Washington Revels. Solo performed works include Bach’s Easter Oratorio, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat in D, Cantata 76, and Jesu, meine Freude, Telemann’s Der Tag des Gerichts and Deutsches Magnificat, Haydn’s Little Organ Mass, Fauré’s Requiem, Finzi’s Requiem da Camera, Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor, Vivaldi Gloria, Jonathan Willcocks’ Lux Perpetua, Luna Pearl Woolf’s Après Moi, le Déluge, and Kenneth Leighton’s Awake my glory and An Evening Hymn.
Accomplished as a choral musician as well as a soloist, Ms. Carlson is a member of some of the finest ensembles in the United States, including Conspirare (Austin, TX), the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tucson Chamber Artists, Washington Bach Consort, Vox Humana (Dallas, TX), Washington Master Chorale, and the Woodley Ensemble. She performs extensively at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra and has sung under Helmuth Rilling, Simon Carrington, Emil de Cou, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Iván Fischer, and Paul Goodwin. Ms. Carlson performs widely at ACDA and NCCO regional and national conventions around the United States and in 2007 made her first international choral tour. In Wales, she competed as an alumna with the University of Maryland Chamber Singers at the prestigious International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen and the ensemble was awarded Second Prize in the Mixed Choirs division.
As a teacher and choral conductor, Ms. Carlson maintains a private voice studio and founded the Six Degree Singers, a community chorus in Silver Spring, Maryland. She acts as assistant music director for the Washington Revels and is in demand as a vocal coach and adjudicator in the Washington, DC area.
Ms. Carlson holds Bachelor’s degrees in both vocal performance and music education from the University of Maryland, as well as a Master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.