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 both 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’s ensemble training began at Midwest Young Artists in Highwood, IL where she was actively involved in their orchestra and chamber music programs. 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 at her church and in the community, and is also passionate about teaching music. Along with the Callisto Quartet, she helped to develop a chamber music curriculum for teaching high school ensembles, and she also maintains an active private studio of both piano and violin students in Houston. 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.