As Music Director. Rachel’s role involves a focus on all musical aspects of our community life, providing musical leadership for both our 8:45 am and 10:30 congregation, as well as special services and some community events.
Rachel Colman was born and raised in southern Manitoba, an area rich in musical heritage. Her love for music was noticeable at an early age, and her enjoyment in sharing her gift through performance began with local festivals and school music programs. A winner at the Manitoba Provincial Festival in 2001 in the Junior/Intermediate Mozart category and performer in the Provincial National class in 2007, Rachel has continually sought to play with excellence.
Rachel graduated from Brandon University in May 2008 with her Bachelor of Music, Honours, in piano with a minor in voice. She received the silver medal for academic excellence as well as various scholarships during her studies. She then toured with Masaki’s Rising Stars, giving concerts and master-classes in rural Manitoba. She has since studied Collaborative Piano with Laura Loewen and Judy Kehler-Siebert at University of Manitoba and graduated with a Post-Baccalaureate in 2012, where her studies focused on the skills needed to collaborate with other musicians, playing orchestral and operatic music, and language studies for vocal music. It has challenged her to explore the limitless possibilities of the piano as it interacts with the sounds of other instruments and as she encounters the personalities and styles of her collaborating musicians. Rachel seeks to bring from the piano a whole orchestra of colourful sound and support for those with whom she collaborates.
Since moving to Toronto in September 2014, Rachel took on the position of Director of Music at a local Anglican Church, where her versatility as a musician is refreshing. She prepares music for services in a variety of styles on organ and piano, often collaborating with guest musicians, as well as arranging pieces to suit the abilities of the choir. She is involved in a song arrangement project through St. Benedict’s Table in Winnipeg, and has begun composing music for use in the church liturgy.
Rachel and her husband, Andrew, share a cozy place in Trinity-Bellwoods, where they keep friends well-fed, brew beer, make wine, and dance Argentinian Tango every so often.
