Rachel Fillhart continued…
Clarinettist Rachel Fillhart moved from her native Canada to the U.K. to study at the Royal Academy of Music and later, the Royal Northern College of Music, receiving scholarships for both. After graduating she spent several years in Portugal as the assistant principal clarinettist with the Orchestra of the Algarve, touring Portugal, Italy and Spain widely.
Rachel has a busy freelance career performing with orchestras throughout the U.K. including Northern Ballet, CBSO and Ulster Orchestra. As a chamber musician, in addition to her much-loved work with Manchester Reed Trio, she gives regular recitals with the renowned pianist John Gough
Rachel has a particular passion in Music in Healthcare, having spent many years working in care settings with Manchester Reed Trio. She trained with OPUS Music CIC on their apprenticeship programme, working for nine months as a musician at Nottingham QMC Hospital. Rachel is the Director of Cascade Music CIC, a small organisation she set up in 2016 to provide greater access to live music in hospital settings, currently funded by Arts Council England. With classical guitarist Martin Bickerton, she is currently Musician in Residence at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. She currently spends much of her time on playing in A&E to help calm and distract children and families dealing with pain and distress. She recently designed and successfully carried out a clinical study to explore the impact of live music in the Pediatric Emergency Department, which involved playing for eight-hour shifts in A&E whilst recruiting patients to the study!
She is one of the founding musicians and trainers for Music in Hospitals and Care’s ground-breaking ICU-Hear programme. From this, she traveled to the Netherlands to share training on bringing live music to Intensive Care Units with Dutch musicians for the organization MuzIC.
Rachel and her husband have two young sons who keep them entertained and occupied!