Musician set for home debut

AWARD-WINNING young Ipswich cellist Rachel Helleur has performed in many of the great concert halls of Europe.

Now she's set to make her home town debut as soloist with the Wolsey Orchestra, in a concert at the Ipswich Corn Exchange, at 7.30pm on May 18.

"It is very exciting to be invited to play with the Wolsey Orchestra, which I have known all my life, and I'm really looking forward to the concert," said Rachel, 21.

She will be performing the ever-popular Dvorak Cello Concerto at the concert, after receiving rave reviews for her performance of this work at the Manchester International Cello Festival last year.

Rachel attended St Helen's Primary and Northgate High School in Ipswich before completing her schooling at the specialist Purcell School of Music.

She is currently at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she has won prizes for her concerto playing, and she has also studied at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in New York State.

The talented musician was only six when she began to learn the cello, with the Ipswich Suzuki Group.

As the youngest member of a musical family, she has been performing from an early age and she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician both in Britain and abroad.

Rachel's first orchestral experience was with the South Suffolk Youth Orchestra and Suffolk Youth Orchestra.

She is also a past member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and a current member of the European Union Youth Orchestra.

Rachel has had the opportunity to work with world-famous conductors like Sir Colin Davis, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Yan Pascal Tortelier and Mstislav Rostropovich.

She has performed in The Royal Albert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie and even Buckingham Palace.

As well as Rachel's Dvorak concerto, the Wolsey Orchestra concert will also include Bruckner's Fourth Symphony and the overture Il Signor Bruschino by Rossini. Tickets are available from the box office, tel 01473 433100.