Rachel Segal

Associate Director, YMDO

Rachel Segal, a native Philadelphian, is a violinist, educator, arranger, and the Founder and President of The Primavera Fund, a program that mentors and supports young musicians in Philadelphia. Ms. Segal is the First Violinist of the Fairmount String Quartet with whom she has recorded three albums of music by women composers and an album of pop music covers. She is also the Principal Violinist of INSCAPE Chamber Orchestra and performs with PostClassical Ensemble, the NoName Pops, Opera Philadelphia, Philadelphia Ballet and other ensembles. She has performed and commissioned new works for solo violin and chamber ensembles throughout her career.

As an orchestral violinist, her career has taken her throughout the USA and abroad. She served as Concertmaster of the Central City Opera orchestra and as a violinist with the Colorado Symphony for twelve seasons, and has had posts as Concertmaster of the Orquestra Sinfonia Portugesa in Lisbon, Portugal, and as Fourth Chair of the Tampere Filharmonia in Tampere, Finland. She began her career as Concertmaster of the South Bend Symphony in Indiana.

As an educator, Ms. Segal has held positions at Regis University and the Community College of Aurora in Colorado, Luzerne Music Center in New York, is Director of Chamber Music at the Music and Mindfulness camp in Virginia, and has been Associate Director of the Young Musicians Debut Orchestra since its inception.

Ms. Segal received her Bachelor of Music degree from The University of Michigan and her Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music. Prominent teachers include Sidney Harth, Paul Kantor, Barbara Govatos, and Jerome Wigler. She was a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra from 1988 until 1994.