Our Accompanist

Rachel Fright

The Chorus was delighted to welcome Rachel Fright as our new accompanist in October 2017. Rachel enjoys accompanying choirs, a passion which started as she played for the Royal Northern College of Music Symphony Chorus and Chamber Choir in preparation for their performance of Penderecki’s Seventh Symphony at the Bridgewater Hall in June 2015. She is in demand as a choral accompanist and currently works for Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus, Congleton Choral Society, Prestbury Choral Society and the Rodolfus Choral Courses. In 2023, Rachel was a prizewinner in the Stella Jockel Young Composer Competition for choral composition.

Rachel works for the RNCM School of Vocal Studies and Opera as a collaborative pianist and teaches at Yorkshire Young Musicians. She is also passionate about musical outreach, and works regularly for Live Music Now, the Leeds Lieder Festival and SoundUp Arts to bring music to the community. Recent work has included repetiteur work to bring Julia Perry’s music to life as a part of vocal tutor Michael Harper’s Arts and Humanities Research Council Project, a French song project with Jackdaws Music Education Trust, a children’s opera with Clonter Opera Theatre and concerts at Oxford Lieder Festival and Lees Lieder Festival. Rachel is also on the working group for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity for Live Music Now.

Following her performance as a Leeds Lieder Young Artist 2018, Rachel was awarded the Hester Dickson Duo Prize with duo partner Ted Black (tenor) to study at Oxenfoord International Summer School with Malcolm Martineau. In the same year, Rachel was a finalist in the Patricia Routledge National English Song Competition and the British Art-Song competition as part of the London Song Festival. Rachel performs regularly across the UK and has been featured on BBC Radio 3.

Rachel is an alumna of the Oxford Lieder Festival Mastercourse, where she received tuition from Roger Vignoles and Imogen Cooper. Previously, she studied with scholarships to Pembroke College, Oxford and the Royal Northern College of Music, where she was taught by Stephen Savage, David Jones and Julius Drake. During her studies, she was supported by the Helen Mackaness Award and won several prizes for accompaniment; the Stella Bradshaw Memorial Award, the Frost/Brownson Award for Accompaniment, the Clifton Helliwell Memorial Award, the Brodsky Prize, the Alexander Young Prize and the James Martin Oncken Song prize. She was a Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the RNCM for two years following graduation.

Read more about Rachel on her website.