Rahel Lulseged
Cello
Rahel Lulseged, born and raised in Dallas, Texas, with origins in Ethiopia, began playing cello at the age of 12. She is currently on an orchestral path, although an orchestral career will not be enough. She is also a passionate advocate for creating space and improving opportunities for Black and Brown musicians, such as the support the Dallas Symphony’s Young Strings program was able to provide her throughout high school. Rahel has found that without the proper resources necessary to succeed in classical music, minority representation will not increase. She firmly believes these changes are a part of her responsibility and life’s work. She finds inspiration from the Baltimore Symphony’s Orchkids, which she volunteers for teaching young cellists. Rahel is a certified Suzuki instructor. As a performer, she was a part of the inaugural season of the National Youth Orchestra 2, appears with the Colour of Music Festival and Princeton Symphony, and has served as principal of the National Orchestral Institute, Peabody Symphony Orchestra and Manhattan School of Music Symphony, all formative experiences that she believes encouraged her to pursue an orchestral career. Ms. Lulseged has appeared in master classes for world-renowned musicians such as Johannes Moser, Astrid Schween, Lynn Harrell, Philip Muller, Yumi Kendall, the Dover Quartet, and others. Rahel was the recipient of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Fine Arts scholarship in 2019 and 2020 and had the opportunity to perform for their conference alongside Misty Copeland and Maxwell. Most recently, she had the opportunity to be the cellist for Netflix’s The Bridgerton Experience where she got to expand her work by playing fusions of pop and the baroque style as a part of the queen’s royal court musicians. Rahel is currently a first-year graduate student in the Orchestral Performance program at the Manhattan School of Music studying cello under the tutelage of Mr. Alan Stepansky.