Rachel Lee Priday

Violinist Rachel Lee Priday (PRY-day), acclaimed for her beauty of tone, riveting stage presence, and “irresistible panache” (Chicago Tribune), has appeared as soloist with major international orchestras, including the Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, Seattle, and National Symphony Orchestras, the Boston Pops, and the Berlin Staatskapelle. Critics have praised her “dazzling, forceful technique,” “rich, mellifluous sound,” and “silvery fluidity.” Combining a fierce intelligence with an imaginative curiosity, her wide-ranging repertoire and eclectic programming reflect a deep fascination with literary and cultural narratives, as an artist who seeks contemporary resonances with the masterworks of the past. Recent and upcoming highlights include concerto engagements with the Pacific Symphony, Stamford Symphony, Greenville Symphony, and re-engagements with the Buffalo Philharmonic, where she performed with conductors JoAnn Falletta and Leon Botstein; recitals at the Sarasota Opera House, a UK recital tour, a 13-concert tour of South Africa, shows at Joe’s Pub and BAM, and a three-city tour of China, including a performance at the Beijing Modern Music Festival; as well as premiere performances of 2014 Pulitzer Prize Finalist Christopher Cerrone’s Violin Sonata, a Violin Concerto by Scott Wollschleger, and a new work for solo violin by Timothy Andres in 2019.

Rachel’s frequent recital appearances have brought her to such distinguished venues as the Mostly Mozart Festival at Avery Fisher Hall, the Kansas City Harriman-Jewell Series, Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” Series, the Musee du Louvre, the Verbier Festival, and the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in German. A graduate of Harvard University in English literature, Rachel’s teachers include Dorothy DeLay, Itzhak Perlman, and Miriam Fried. She performs on a Nicolo Gagliano violin (Naples, 1760), double-purfled with fleurs-de-lis, named Alejandro.