Rachel Mellis enjoys a multi-faceted career as an orchestral, chamber, solo, and recording flutist. She has collaborated with esteemed artists such as John Williams, Danny Elfman, Michael Bublé, Christina Aguilera, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson Thomas, James Conlon, Rachel Platten, and Seth Macfarlane.
Rachel is 2nd flutist with the Redlands Symphony and flutist of Bridge to Everywhere, a Los Angeles-based chamber ensemble celebrating cultural diversity and interwoven musical traditions. She has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Pasadena Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Pantages Theater, Ahmanson Theater, Long Beach Symphony, and Hollywood Chamber Orchestra.
As a studio musician, Rachel has recorded on many soundtracks and albums, including for TV shows Star Trek: Picard, The Orville, Siberia, Complete Works, ads for New Balance Shoes and Sprinkles Cupcakes, and movies Hocus Pocus 2 and Timmy Failure. She is a soloist on video games Ori and the Blind Forest and Minecraft, and has performed on TV shows The Voice and Glee.
Rachel is on faculty at Occidental College and frequently gives workshops and masterclasses throughout California and the U.S. In addition to western Classical flutes, Rachel performs, records and presents on flutes from around the world, such as bansuri, shakuhachi, pan pipes, dizi, Irish flute, recorder, penny whistle, and xiao.
Education: B.M., M.M., University of Southern California