Rachel Harding Klaus

violin

Violinist Rachel Harding Klaus won her position with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in May of 2012. She previously held a position as Assistant Concert Master of the Colorado Symphony.

Rachel has won numerous national and international violin competitions and the recipient of several awards. She was the Grand Prize winner of both the Corpus Christi International Violin Competition and the Concerto Competition with the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has also been a Top Prize winner in the Stulberg International String Competition, Kingsville International String Competition, the Irving Klein String Competition, and the MTNA Competition. She also was invited to play in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Rachel has an undergraduate and Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music studying with David and Linda Cerone, where she received the Dr. Jerome Gross Prize in Music and the Joseph and Elsie Scharff Prize.

Rachel has soloed with the Colorado Symphony, and the Corpus Christi Symphony, playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto; the Asheville Symphony, performing the Chaconne for the Red Violin and the Rondo Capriccioso; and the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra playing the Bartók Concerto. She has soloed with many local Michigan Orchestras including the Rochester, Birmingham-Bloomfield. and Kalamazoo Jr. Symphony.

Aside from her orchestral responsibilities, Rachel has two children, Matthew and Katelyn. Her husband Ben is the Senior Pastor of a Baptist church in Gibraltar where she enjoys playing and singing. Both Rachel and Ben have a passion to use their instruments and voices ministering in various churches throughout Michigan.