Rachael is an award-winning finger-style guitarist, a talented, expressive musician, and a graduate of UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts. Rachael holds a B.F.A in Finger-style Guitar Performance, along with a B.F.A. in Music History & Literature, a Certification in Rock and Roll Studies, and a Master’s of Liberal Studies. Rachael is currently pursuing a Master of Music: Finger-style Guitar Performance degree. Rachael is eager to develop further as both a performer and scholar of musical studies. In 2015, Rachael won first place in the finger-style division of the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center Guitar Competition and Festival in Brookfield, Wisconsin.
Raised in the Minneapolis metropolitan area, Rachael began studying guitar at age twelve. Before long, Rachael was exposed to American finger-style guitar and embraced this hearty, percussive steel-string acoustic tradition. Over the next six years, Rachael studied finger-style guitar with both Dan Schwartz and John Stropes, Director of Guitar Studies at UW-Milwaukee and a leading authority in finger-style guitar.
In the last decade, Rachael has developed an impressive repertoire, including original compositions and hundreds of solo performances, at locations such as Vogel Hall, the Milwaukee Public Market, the Milwaukee Art Museum, wedding ceremonies, and Milwaukee cafés and bars. Rachael has experience performing and studying in master classes with renowned musicians such as: Pierre Bensusan, Alex DeGrassi, Clive Carroll, the Venere Lute Quartet, Ronn MacFarlane, Don Ross, Andy McKee, Stefano Barone, Pino Forastiere, and Guy Van Duser.