Dr. Rachel Carlson

Rachel Carlson, DMA, is the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Kean University, where she conducts the Kean University Concert Choir, Treble Choir, and Community Chorale and teaches Aural Skills, Conducting, and Voice. From 2016-2022, she served as the Director of Choral Activities at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV and founded Six Degree Singers, a community choir based in Silver Spring, MD, in 2009. Dr. Carlson currently serves as SSA/Treble Choir Repertoire & Resources Chair of the NJ chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and served as President of the MD/DC chapter from 2021-2023. She presents workshops and masterclasses in schools throughout the region and is in demand as a clinician, adjudicator, presenter, and guest conductor. She has been invited to lead honor choirs as a guest conductor in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Delaware. Dr. Carlson has been published in the Choral Journal and has been invited to present her research at state, regional, and national ACDA, NCCO, NAfME, and CBDNA conferences.

Dr. Carlson has toured the country and the world as a freelance professional choral singer and soprano soloist with many top professional ensembles, including the Oregon Bach Festival, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Vox Humana, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Washington Master Chorale, Washington Bach Consort, Conspirare, Manhattan Chorale, and Germany’s Bach Ensemble Helmuth Rilling.