Rachel Unterseher

Rachel is a versatile violinist, violist and music educator. It is her goal in life for people from all walks of life to experience the beauty and grace of ancient India’s rich musical traditions.

Rachel began her studies in Hindustani classical music at the legendary Ali Akbar College of Music with Maestro Ali Akbar Khan. With the Maestro she studied intensively vocal and instrumental music in his unique style from the Seni Maihar Gharana from 1990-2009. In addition, she studied table with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and violin technique with violinists Sisirkana Dhar Chawdhury and Satyadev Pawar. From childhood, Rachel fell in love with the sound of the violin and studied Western classical music. She has bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance with Honors from Mills College where she studied with violinist David Abel.

A Bay Area resident, she has performed throughout the Bay Area, U.S., India, and for radio and television. In addition to being a regular performer at the Ali Akbar College of Music, she has performed in the Palace of Fine Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, California Center for the Arts Escondido, Marin Veteran’s Auditorium, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis.

As a music educator, she has given many lecture demonstrations to schools throughout the Bay Area and has contributed as a research archivist to the Ali Akbar Khan Library. Rachel has over 20 years teaching experience and enjoys teaching students of all ages, starting as young as 4 years old. Currently, she teaches both Hindustani and Western classical music and is a violin/viola instructor at the Ali Akbar College of Music and Marin Country Day School.