The cellist combines an active performing career with teaching and research centred on Jewish musical traditions
Cellist, educator and researcher Racheli Galay has been appointed Head of the Jewish Music Track within the Master’s Degree programme at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance (JAMD).
Galay, who specialises in Jewish music, also serves as Head of the Music Department at Givat Washington College of Education and is a visiting researcher at the Jewish Music Research Center of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Galay studied the cello with János Starker, Emmanuel Gruber, Hans Jørgen Jensen and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, among others. As a performer, she has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Zagreb Philharmonic, Lublin Philharmonic and Rosario Chamber Orchestra. She is a member of the Jewish-Arab ensemble Quartetoukan and directs the klezmer group Epele Trio.
Her research has focused on Jewish cello repertoire and musicians, including the cellist, pedagogue and composer Joachim Stutschewsky, who was the subject of her doctoral dissertation from Northwestern University. She also holds degrees from Tel Aviv University and Indiana University Bloomington. She is currently researching the Ukrainian–American cellist-composer Joseph Cherniavsky through a 2026–27 New York Public Library–Fordham University Research Fellowship.
She released her debut solo album, Celloland, in April 2026.
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