Swedish born Rachel Harris began her baroque violin studies at the Welsh College of Music and Drama with Clare Salaman.

After completing her studies with distinction, Rachel continued as a postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music in London with Alison Bury. She was awarded the prestigious Countess of Munster and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarships.

Rachel’s postgraduate studies continued in Trossingen and Würzburg, Germany, where she concluded her soloist studies with Gottfried von der Goltz, leader of the Freiburger Barockorchester. Rachel also plays the viola and the bass viol, and would love to learn how to play the natural horn decently!

Rachel has performed as a soloist with Cantus Cölln, the Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Lautten Compagney Berlin and La Banda Augsburg, with whom she has made a DVD recording of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in October 2013. Other ensembles Rachel has played with include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Florilegium and St. James’s Baroque.

She is the leader and director of Ensemble Schirokko Hamburg, with whom she has made numerous CDs. Her most recent disc is the complete recording of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas together with J.P. von Westhoff Solo Suites. Rachel joined The Brook Street Band in 1997.