Rachelle Berthelesen Davis, violinist and director of the Pacific Union College Orchestra, is a native Californian who grew up in Puerto Rico. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in music from Pacific Union College where she studied with LeRoy Peterson.

Davis received an M.Mus. in violin performance with a violin pedagogy cognate from Indiana University, Bloomington, where her principal violin professors were Nellie Shkolnikova, and Mimi Zweig, as well as Stanley Ritchie on the Baroque violin. She completed a D.M.A. in violin performance from the University of Texas at Austin where she studied with Eugene Gratovich. Other influential teachers were David Mallory, Virginia Gene Rittenhouse, and Steve Shipps.

Davis began teaching violin at age 14 and has held positions on the faculties of the Indiana University String Academy, The University of Texas String Project, and Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland. While at CUC she was also Assistant Director of the New England Youth Ensemble, head of the string department, and a music history lecturer.

Davis has traveled the world as concertmaster and soloist with the NEYE and has frequently performed in Carnegie Hall as the concertmaster of the New England Symphonic Ensemble. While she is primarily a classical violinist and violist and loves to play chamber music, she is also adept at playing a little jazz and country fiddle.

2005