Biography
Image credit: Evie Firth
Courses taught: BA (Hons) Music (Folk)
Specialisms: Unaccompanied singing, performance, arrangement.
Rachael Sutcliffe is a folk musician known for singing, playing clàrsach, piano and percussion. Having grown up in the tradition, she has been performing since she was 3 years old. Hailing from a traditional music background (Lăutari), her family have a rich heritage of music that has been passed on through the generations.
After studying contemporary classical music at Dartington College of Arts and a brief spell with Maddy Prior, Rachael went on to reinterpreting traditional pieces for unaccompanied voice, finding a deeper creative freedom. From there she went on to form The Heathen Kings, a touring band currently working on their third release (Good At The Bad Things 2012, Not In Service 2013, Blood and Bone 2017) and later her trio, Fireside Knights (Fireside Knights EP, 2015).
Rachael has toured as part of the EFDSS Folk Rising initiative, developed and performed live soundtracks for theatre productions (Elise Rhode-Hansen - Whispers 2013) and toured and recorded extensively with her bands.
Rachael is currently working on a cross-Atlantic project to produce an album of traditional pieces recorded in their original location called Across The Western Ocean, to be released in 2018.
