BIO

The Washington Post describes composer, conductor, vocalist, instrumentalist, and visual artist Raquel Acevedo Klein as a “force to be reckoned with.” Raquel has been commissioned by Opera Philadelphia to write her first opera detailing her family’s immigration from Colombia and migration to NYC from Puerto Rico. Earlier this season, Raquel made her Broadway debut as Music Director for Justin Peck’s Tony Award-winning musical Illinoise, featuring music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens. Together with Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, Raquel scored and recorded vocals for the film Adrianne & the Castle, which premiered in Spring 2024 at SXSW. Raquel tours and records as a vocalist in the Grammy Award-winning vocal band Roomful of Teeth. Conducting credits include the New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, Beth Morrison Projects, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Raquel has premiered vocal works by John Adams, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and Paola Prestini. Favorite vocal performance and recording highlights include working with Alicia Keys, Bon Iver, Claire Chase, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Raquel’s compositions and performances have captured the attention of The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Los Angeles Times. Raquel has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Town Hall, Park Avenue Armory, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, WNYC, BAM, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Celebrate Brooklyn!, the Guggenheim, Rockefeller Center, National Sawdust, Caramoor, Bard Fisher Center and elsewhere.

 

This past year, Raquel composed a body of ambisonic music presented by NASA and the European Space Agency that explores human consciousness and cosmic origins through the lens of the James Webb Space Telescope, and incorporates scientific data into each composition. The music premiered at the Texas Eclipse Festival in a 360º audio/visual dome and was published in NASA’s online publication, NTRS. This past Spring, Raquel mounted a 3 month-long exhibit and performed a 3 week run of live shows entitled Meta/Physical Therapy at the Museum of Modern Art with collaborators Nick Hallett and Shana Moulton. In 2022, Raquel formed a trio with Caroline Shaw and Angélica Negrón where they co-composed and performed a new song cycle comprised of voice, electronics, viola, and accordion at Caramoor. As part of NY PopsUp, Raquel curated a four-week festival entitled NYC FREE, to celebrate the opening of Little Island in 2021. Raquel premiered an original, audience-interactive vocal symphony entitled "Polyphonic Interlace," made from 40 recorded layers of her voice that audiences can play using their phones. As a vocalist, she has recorded and performed with artists including Glen Hansard, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, The National, Grizzly Bear, Sufjan Stevens, and New York Philharmonic among others.