Racheli Galay

Racheli Galay is an Israeli cellist, educator, and researcher specializing in Jewish music and klezmer cello performance. She composes and arranges works in the Jewish style for professional and educational settings.
Born in Tel Aviv, Racheli began piano lessons with her father, pianist and composer Daniel Galay, at the age of 5. At 9, she commenced her cello studies at the Israeli Conservatory in Tel Aviv with Ma’ayan Matityahu. Later, she studied cello with Tzvi Harel and was a member of the Israeli Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Galay performed the standard classical repertoire alongside Israeli and international contemporary music, including premieres of Israeli works, and klezmer and Yiddish repertoire.
Racheli Galay earned her Doctor of Music degree in Cello Performance from Northwestern University in 2007, studying under Hans Jørgen Jensen. She received the Charlotte McDonald Award for Excellence in Musical and Academic Achievements at Northwestern University and the Northwestern University Eckstein Fellowship. She was a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and performed under maestros such as Daniel Barenboim and Sir Andrew David.
Her dissertation focused on the work s of Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982) for Cello and Piano in the Jewish style, guided by Robert Gjerdingen. This research was supported by grants from the Joachim Stutschewsky Foundation, the City of Tel Aviv-Yafo, and YIVO’s Heifetz Fellowship.
Galay obtained her Master’s in Cello Performance from Indiana University in Bloomington, studying with Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and Janos Starker, and received the Indiana University Fellowship. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Musicology from the University of Tel Aviv, during which she studied cello with Emmanuel Gruber.
Currently, Dr. Racheli Galay is a senior lecturer at the Givat Washington Academic College for Education Music Department, where she was one of the Music Department’s founding members and served as its head. She also teaches at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance and is a Visiting Researcher at the Jewish Music Research Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Previously, she was on the faculty of VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, the Music Institute of Chicago, and ChiArts High School. Racheli presented at various venues and conferences, including the AJS Conference, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra 1st International Conference for Music Education, the 16th World Congress of Jewish Studies, the Association of Jewish Libraries Convention, The Chicago Cello Association, The College Music Society, The University of Chicago, The National Library of Israel, Yiddish Summer Weimar, the Israeli Musicology Society conferences, The Future of the Archive Conference at the British Library London, and the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Arts in Pskov, among others.
Galay is the cellist of Quartetoukan – A Jewish-Arab musical ensemble – Trio Epele of klezmer and Jewish soul music, and Trio Avivar which performs Hebrew, Ladino, and Yiddish-Klezmer music. Racheli Galay has been a soloist with orchestras such as the Zagreb Philharmonic, Lublin Philharmonic, Rosario Chamber Orchestra, and Waukegan Symphony. Her performances span the U.S., Israel, Morocco, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Argentina, and Paraguay. She gave workshops and masterclasses for cellists, orchestras, and music educators in the U.S., Europe, and Israel. She plays a 100-year-old French cello made by an anonymous luthier.
Email: racheli.galay@gmail.com
racheli.galay@gmail.com