Rachel Mercer

Rachel Mercer

Described as a "pure chamber musician" (Globe and Mail) creating "moments of pure magic" (Toronto Star), Canadian cellist Rachel Mercer has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across five continents. Grand prize winner of the 2001 Vriendenkrans Competition in Amsterdam, Rachel is Principal Cello of the NAC Orchestra in Ottawa and Co-Artistic Director of the "5 at the First" Chamber Music Series in Hamilton and Orleans, Ontario. Rachel plays with the Mercer-Park Duo, St. John-Mercer-Park Trio and Ironwood Quartet, and was cellist of JUNO award-winning piano quartet Ensemble Made In Canada (2008-2020), the AYR Trio (2010-2020), and the Aviv Quartet (2002-2010). Rachel has given masterclasses across North America, South Africa and in Israel and has given talks on performance, careers and the music business. An advocate for new Canadian music, Rachel has commissioned and premiered over 30 works including cello concerti by Stewart Goodyear and Kevin Lau, as well as solo and chamber work by Vivian Fung, Andrew Downing, Alice Ho, Abigail Richardson-Schulte, John Burge and Jocelyn Morlock. She can be heard in recording on Naxos, Analekta, Atma, Leaf Music, Centrediscs, EnT-T, Pipistrelle, and in 2012, recorded the complete Bach Suites (Pipistrelle) on the 1696 Bonjour Stradivarius Cello from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Rachel currently plays a 17th century cello from Northern Italy.

Productions/Recordings/Films

OTHER PERFORMANCES

Madeleine Peyroux (2014) - St. Catharines, ON

Madeleine Peyroux (2014) - Kingston, ON

Madeleine Peyroux (2014) - Burlington, ON

A Singer Must Die (2022) - Toronto, ON

A Singer Must Die (2022) - Stratford, ON

A Singer Must Die (2022) - Burlington, ON

Photos