about
Rachel Fenlon is a soprano and pianist with a distinct voice on the international classical music stage.
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Rachel is renowned for her self-accompanied song recitals, performing as both singer and pianist. Her debut album, Winterreise, released in October 2024, received widespread critical acclaim. It was named Album of the Week by CBC Canada and BBC Radio 3, and Album of the Month by Classic 106 FM. Hailed as “an outstanding new record…Winterreise as it has never been recorded before. It is extraordinary.” (CBC/Record of the Week), BBC Radio 3 "In Concert" called it “an extraordinary debut...spellbinding,” and the album earned multiple five-star reviews from La Scena Musicale and Opera Wire. Remarkably, Rachel's Winterreise is the first-ever self-accompanied recording of the work.
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In the 2024/25 season, Rachel tours Winterreise and performs self-accompanied recitals across Europe, Canada, the UK, and Brazil. Notable engagements include performances at Virtuosi Festival Brazil, Vancouver Recital Society, Music Toronto, Algarve Music Series Portugal, Temppeliaukio Helsinki, Salle Bourgie Montréal, Bechstein Hall London, Domaine Forget, and Konzerthaus Berlin. She makes her U.S. debut in March 2025 in a solo showcase at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.​ ​​​
Photo by Clara Evens
“Rachel Fenlon’s Winterreise is extraordinary for many reasons.
Fenlon makes for an astonishing premiere.”
— Opera Wire
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Rachel has been singing and accompanying herself from the piano since 2016. She has performed self-accompanied recitals at renowned international festivals and stages, including Oxford Lieder Festival, Martha Argerich Festival, Festival de Lanaudière, Fundación Juan March Madrid, Settimane Musicali di Ascona, Bechstein Hall London, Vancouver Recital Society, Ottawa Chamberfest, Festival International Povoa de Varzim, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Oper Leipzig, Virtuosi Festival Brazil, Salle Bourgie, and Konzerthaus Berlin.
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In addition to her solo recital tours this season, her 24-25 season collaborations include a world premiere with Manufaktur für aktuelle Musik and SWR Kultur, where she will sing and play synthesizer composed by Martin Schüttler at Theaterhaus Stuttgart. She returns to the opera stage in the role of Eurinda in Cavalli’s La Doriclea with Ensemble Nylandia Helsinki - a baroque ensemble with whom Rachel collaborates frequently, and joins New Chamber Ballet NYC as soprano soloist in their world premiere of “APHORISMS” at Konzerthaus Berlin.
Deeply devoted to new music, Rachel frequently tours the audiovisual contemporary work "Sing Nature Alive from My Insides" - a multimedia song cycle composed for self-accompanied soprano, piano, live electronics and video projections, composed by Matthias McIntire, set to poetry by Fenlon, with visuals by Jamie A. McMillan. It is currently touring as a live performance, with forthcoming record and film release. Offering a powerful reflection on the climate crisis, the live electronics are sourced sounds of nature, ocean waves, birds, waterfalls, as well as the live processing of Rachel’s voice and the composition features Rachel Fenlon's innovative self-accompanied performance. "Sing Nature Alive" premiered at Ottawa Chamberfest (2022), and this year makes its debut at SXSW Festival Austin, as well as Konzerthaus Berlin, Sweetwater Festival, and Berlied. Read more about Sing Nature Alive here.​
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​Also a composer and poet, Rachel has been awarded writing grants from the Canada Council and Ontario Arts Councils for her poetry. - her poems have been set to song by composers Matthias McIntire, and Danika Loren. Rachel is the co-founder of the Berlin artist collective CROWN THE MUSE, a production and commissioning body for new music projects, and a founding member of the Canadian Artist Collective, New Art/New Media. In summer 2025, Rachel is commissioned to write several new compositions by Opera Festival de Quebec, in a world premiere of "Pierrot: entre 3 lunes" in which Rachel also sings the role of Pierrot - a co-creation with Ne:Sans Dance Company and Crown The Muse.
Rachel began her career on the opera stage with Vancouver Opera, and and has performed opera roles such as Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Nannetta (Falstaff), Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare). In 2019 she appeared as a soloist with Deutsche Oper Berlin in the world premiere of Heart Chamber by Chaya Czernowin. In concert, Rachel has sung with international orchestras as a soloist in Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Brahms Requiem, Bach B Minor Mass, Handel's Messiah, and is a frequent soprano soloist with Ensemble Nylandia in Helsinki, and Sophienkirche Berlin.
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Rachel is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and has participated in international artist residencies, as singer, pianist, and composer. Born in the UK, raised on Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada, Rachel is now based in Berlin.
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