About Rachel

Originally from Holiday Hills, IL, Rachel Aguilar (Stenzel) grew up in a very musical family, beginning her formal training on the piano at age five and later on the violin at age nine. Currently residing in Houston, TX, she completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Violin Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music (CIM), where she also minored in both Music Theory and Business Management. Her primary teachers include Paul Kantor, Stephen Rose, Jan Mark Sloman, and Almita Vamos. 

Rachel performs regularly with both the Atlanta and Houston Symphony Orchestras. Her orchestral experience has included five years as a member of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, concertmaster of the Suburban Symphony Orchestra, and a participant in the New York String Orchestra Seminar. During her time at CIM, Rachel was the recipient of multiple awards in both violin and chamber music; she also served as concertmaster of the CIM orchestra and was featured as a soloist with the orchestra. 

Although she loves both solo and orchestral playing, Rachel’s true passion is for chamber music. As a founding member of the Callisto Quartet, Rachel has won top prizes in nearly every major chamber music competition, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. With the Callisto Quartet, she has participated in residencies at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, the Yale School of Music, Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia (Madrid), and the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. As quartet-in-residence from 2020-2022 at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, the Callisto Quartet performed a complete Bartok String Quartet Cycle, the first time this was ever performed at Caramoor. 

In addition to playing in orchestra and chamber settings, Rachel is committed to performing regularly in churches as part of the Harvest Arts Hymn Tour, and is also passionate about teaching music. She has served as guest faculty at the Credo Chamber Music Festival (Oberlin, OH), the Fine Arts Center (Greenville, SC), the Intermountain Suzuki String Institue (Salt Lake City, UT), and the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts (Houston, TX). Rachel plays on an 1850 Chanot violin generously on loan from the Maestro Foundation, and a bow generously on loan from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation. In her spare time she enjoys running, cooking, all kinds of craft projects, and spending time with her family.