Rachelle Puccini

Violin Instructor
Instruments: 
Violin
Program Area: 
Private Instruction
Suzuki Education
Chamber Music
With Music Institute of Chicago since: 
2007
Education: 

Violinist Rachelle Puccini holds a Master's Degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University, and a Bachelor's Degree in Violin Performance from Grand Valley State University. 

Significant teachers and mentors: 

Some of Ms. Puccini's most influential teachers were: her instructor from Northwestern University- Gerardo Ribeiro, her instructor from Grand Valley State University- Dylana Jenson, and perhaps most prominent, notable violinist and pedagogue Olga Kaler.

Awards and achievements: 

As an orchestral musician, Rachelle has played with orchestras throughout the country and abroad, including the Santo Domingo Festival Orchestra in the Dominican Republic, Conciertos de la Villa de Santo Domingo, and the Grand Rapids and the Kalamazoo Symphonies in Michigan. She also joined the Munich Symphony on their most recent US tour and currently plays with the Miami Symphony in Florida, and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Puccini has also built a successful violin studio in Chicago, as well as having served as a violin teacher at the Grandville Avenue Academy for the Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Professional affiliations & activities: 

Violinist Rachelle Elizabeth Puccini is an active soloist and chamber musician. She has played with orchestras, and in venues throughout the country and abroad. Last season she was featured as a soloist and guest concertmaster with the Whiting Park Festival Orchestra, and recorded Kreisler’s Liebesfreud and Liebeslied with pianist Paul Hamilton. This upcoming season will feature solo and trio concerts in Chicago, and throughout the midwest. She is currently working on a film for the violin and piano work Fratres by Arvo Part where she is the featured subject and recording artist with pianist and film maker Paul Hamilton to be released in 2019. As an Eastman artist, Ms. Puccini enjoys giving clinics, recitals and masterclasses throughout the US and abroad. She teaches and performs all her educational engagements on an Eastman violin model VL928. In Chicago, she has built a successful violin studio, and is currently on faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago. Ms. Puccini holds a Masters degree in Violin Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University where she studied with Gerardo Ribeiro, and a Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from Grand Valley State University where she studied with international soloist, violinist Dylana Jenson. She has also studied with violinist and pedagogue Olga Kaler. Ms. Puccini concertizes on a 2015 Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin made especially for her. In her spare time Rachelle enjoys painting, running, and the occasional triathlon.