Rachel Woolf, D.M.A.
Assistant Professor of Flute, Music
Contact
Bio
Dr. Rachel Woolf serves as Assistant Professor of Flute at the University of Texas at San Antonio School of Music. Accomplished as a multidimensional artist, Rachel is Principal Flute with the Victoria Bach Festival, flutist in Dallas based symphonic pop rock band, The Polyphonic Spree, regularly performs as Principal Flute with the San Antonio Philharmonic, and has performed and recorded with the United States Air Force Band of the West. She has performed at the National Flute Association Convention (NFA) eight times, and in the 2022 and 2023 conventions was a featured performer on the Friday Night Gala Concert. Additionally, she has been a featured artist at the 2023 North American Saxophone Alliance Convention (NASA), the International Clarinet Association, ClarinetFest, and College Music Society’s National Conference. Actively engaged with programming new and diverse works, her flute and marimba duo, Duo 彩 Aya, has commissioned four new works for flute and marimba for performances across the United States and Japan in the 2023-2024 season. Rachel has performed with Swedish-Argentinian indie folk singer Jośe González, multi-platinum operatic pop superstars Il Divo, GLEE and Emmy-winning Darren Criss, and has recorded with Grammy-Winning producer John Congleton on experimental rock band Swans regard, The Glowing Man (2016). Not one to be boxed by notes on a page, she has sought out an array of opportunities to improvise—from freeform to jazz to Indian ragas. Notably, she was selected to perform traditional Hindustani North Indian flute during the Dalai Llama’s visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Under her leadership, the UTSA Flute Ensemble has been invited to perform twice at the National Flute Association Convention (NFA 2020, 2021) and at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention (TMEA 2023), the Austin Flute Festival (2022), the Texas Flute Society Festival (2021), and the San Diego Flute Guild Festival (2021). In 2021, Rachel commissioned four compositions for the UTSA Flute Ensemble to perform at NFA, three by UTSA alumni composers.
Rachel previously taught flute and chamber music at Brookhaven College and extensively across the DFW metroplex. She has given masterclasses, recitals, and clinics at The University of Michigan, The University of Alabama, The University of Texas at Austin, The University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bowling Green State University, University of Oregon, SUNY Potsdam, Lamar University, Baylor University, Oklahoma State University, Texas Lutheran University, Grand View University, and Central College. She has been a Guest Artist Teacher at Texas A & M Commerce and has given clinics and recitals at the Austin Flute Society’s Festival, Texas Flute Society’s Festival, Texas Summer Flute Symposium, Floot Fire camps, among others. She has also been on judging panels for the NFA High School Soloist Competition, Texas Music Education’s Association (TMEA) All-State Convention, NFA Collegiate Flute Choir Competition, Myrna Brown Competition (Texas Flute Society), and VOCE Competition (San Diego).
An avid champion of contemporary music, Rachel has been a founding member of multiple new music groups in Ann Arbor and Los Angeles and has premiered numerous new works for flute and piccolo, including Paul Schoenfield’s Psychobird (A Sonatina for Piccolo and Piano) with Paul Schoenfield on piano. She can be heard premiering works by William Bolcom and Jennifer Higdon on the widely released Classical Structures with the University of Michigan Symphony Band on Equilibrium Records. Additionally, she can be heard playing principal and bass flute on the GIA Windworks label, Canvases and Offerings, with the UNT Wind Symphony.
Beyond her performances across the United States, she has performed in Sweden, Finland, Russia, Italy, Luxembourg, Germany, France, England, and Canada. She received her Bachelor of Music at the University of Michigan, obtained her Master of Music at Bowling Green State University, where she was the flute Teaching Assistant, and completed her Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of North Texas as a Teaching Fellow with a related field in Ethnomusicology. She has studied under the tutelage of Amy Porter, Dr. Conor Nelson, Terri Sundberg, Dr. James Scott, Marianne Gedigian, and Karen Reynolds.
Research Interests
My research areas include performing and commissioning music by diverse groups of composers and artists. I am interested in music that expands beyond the western classical cannon. I perform regularly as a chamber musician, soloist, and symphonic musician, while also performing regularly in my rock band, The Polyphonic Spree. I also have been engaging within my own live looping compositions with the flute. In the year ahead, I will be touring with my flute and marimba duo, Duo 彩 AYA, performing newly commissioned music as well as music that takes on a global perspective. I am also engaged with performing music by women composers who are interested in themes of climate change, social unrest, and the resilience of our planet.
Degrees
- B.M., University of Michigan
- M.M., Bowling Green State University
- D.M.A., University of North Texas
