American violinist Rachell Ellen Wong has added another role to her growing career: Concertmaster of the one of the most vibrant American early music ensembles, Seattle Baroque Orchestra. Announced today by Alexander Weimann, Seattle Baroque Orchestra's Music Director, the post is a natural addition to her work in the early music arena.
A rising star on both the historical performance and modern violin stages, and a sought-after collaborator, Rachell Ellen Wong has a growing reputation as one of the top historical performers of her generation.
Maestro Weimann, in announcing the news in Early Music Seattle's newsletter, wrote, “ This past year has been a period of re-inventing the Seattle Baroque Orchestra: While the pandemic forced us to cease our usual activities, we still made good use of the time by re-grouping our personnel, re-thinking our repertoire and mandate.... At the same time, the retirement of our beloved concertmaster Linda Melsted prompted us to look for a new leading artist to start with into the post-pandemic era.
"...she combines everything we were looking for in Linda's successor: the highest artistic integrity and true musicianship, the authority that comes with being an outstanding virtuoso and the warm collegial spirit needed in our world.
"In short, I could not have dreamed of such a beautiful choice for the position of concertmaster to the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, and I am simply overjoyed that Rachell has accepted our invitation." (Click here to read the full piece and learn more about Seattle Baroque Orchestra.)
Recipient of a prestigious 2020 Avery Fisher Career Grant (the first baroque recipient in the respected program’s history) and Grand Prize winner of the inaugural Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition, Ms. Wong has performed throughout the United States and Canada, as well as in the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Costa Rica, Panama, China, and New Zealand. She has performed with such respected ensembles as the American Bach Soloists,The Academy of Ancient Music, Bach Collegium Japan, and Les Arts Florissants, among others. Equally accomplished on the modern violin, Ms. Wong made her first public appearance with the Philharmonia Northwest at age 11 and has since performed as a soloist with such orchestras as Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Panama and Seattle Symphony.
Along with her new responsibilities with Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Rachell Ellen Wong's continues her career as a soloist.
Ms. Wong served as a 2019-2020 Mercury Chamber Orchestra Juilliard Fellow, and as an 2019-2020 American Fellow of The English Concert, and as Artist-in-Residence with the Heifetz International Music Institute in Staunton, Virginia from 2017-2019.
A native of Seattle, Washington, and a recent graduate, Ms. Wong holds a Masters in Music in Historical Performance from The Juilliard School in New York City, where she moved after receiving her Masters in Music from Indiana University and a Bachelors of Music from The University of Texas at Austin. She performs on a baroque violin from the school of Joachim Tielke and a violin made by Carlo de March. www.rachellwong.com
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