ABOUT
Rachel Wick is a graduate of St. Peter’s College, Oxford and the Royal Academy of Music. As an orchestral player she has performed with many of the UKs leading ensembles, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, BBC Concert Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Concert Orchestra, English Session Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, as well as with orchestras further afield including the European Union Youth Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of India and Norwegian Opera. She has recorded with New College and Christ Church Cathedral Choirs, Oxford and has broadcast live on Classic FM with Her Majesty’s Choir of the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, and appears on Howard Goodall’s album Inspired.
Alongside a large private teaching practice, Rachel teaches harp at Berkhamsted School and the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music, and coaches for the National Children’s Orchestra. With her flute duo partner, Thomas Hancox, she plays for the charity CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust giving outreach concerts in primary schools. She appears miming in an orchestra for the latest Mission Impossible film, and was filmed for Google’s ‘Inside Abbey Road’ virtual online tour.
In May 2018 she was made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music. Rachel is also the Artistic Co-Director of the Dunster Festival, a classical chamber music festival which takes place in May each year.
MEDIA
some recent projects...
ITV's Sound of Music Live
Broadcast in December 2015, catch a very fleeting glimpse of Rachel's finger (!) in this ITV ad for the Sound of Music live, for which she played on the soundtrack.
Inside Abbey Road with Google
Hear and see Rachel playing at the iconic Abbey Road studios with Google's Inside Abbey Road street view tour.
Helene Fischer
German pop sensation Helene Fischer with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2015 at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Click here to buy the DVD on Amazon.
Illumina - Music of Light
Recorded in 2012, listen to Rachel accompanying the choir of New College, Oxford, in this arrangement of the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony from the album Illumina - Music of Light.
Click here to buy on Amazon.
Inspired with Howard Goodall
Promotional video made by Classic FM for Howard Goodall's album Inspired, released in 2013.
Click here to buy the album on Amazon.
ANTARA
FLUTE & HARP DUO
Known for their engaging and dynamic performances, the Antara Duo is in demand throughout the country for both recital and outreach work. They have played for numerous music clubs, at festivals including Cheltenham and St. Davids, and venues including the Wigmore and Colston Halls. They have also been guest artists on cruises for P&O and Fred. Olsen.
Beyond their recital work, they work for Live Music Now, a charity that brings live music to those who would otherwise rarely, if ever, experience it, and also give educational performances for CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust and the Wigmore Hall.
Thomas Hancox and Rachel Wick started playing together in 2007 and are both graduates of St. Peter’s College, Oxford, and the Royal Academy of Music. Alongside their duo, they lead successful careers teaching and playing with the country’s leading orchestras. This season, Thomas and Rachel have commissioned and premiered a work by Robert Saxton, kindly funded by the PRS for Music Foundation and the RVW Trust.
Visit Antara's website for more information.
TEACHING
One of the most sought after harp teachers in North London, Rachel teaches the harp at the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music, at Berkhamsted School and coaches for the National Children’s Orchestras. She also has an ever expanding cohort of private harp students, currently numbering around twenty five, whom she teaches from her harp studio in High Barnet.
In 2011 she was awarded the Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) teaching diploma.
Her private students attend many North London schools including Rhodes Avenue, Muswell Hill, Tetherdown, Fitzjohn’s and St. Michael’s primary schools, Fortismere, Dame Alice Owen, Highgate, Channing, Mill Hill and Latymer secondary schools. She also teaches university students from Kings College, London, and Imperial College.
As well as teaching, Rachel regularly gives workshops and interactive concerts for children, including solo recitals for the ‘Bach to Baby’ series and outreach work for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Wigmore Hall and on behalf of charities including ‘Live Music Now’, the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust and ‘Music and the Deaf’.
Rachel is always pleased to give trial lessons or to discuss lessons over the phone.
Rachel also teaches ABRSM music theory.
HARP HIRE
Rachel has some harps available to hire, with precedence given to her own students.