Rachel McFarlane is a Canadian composer who began as a violinist in the Claude Watson Program at Earl Haig Secondary School. She is previously known for her breakout piece “Beyond the Challenger Deep” which was played by the Gryphon Trio at the Jane Mallet Theatre in Toronto. Rachel studied under Deborah Pady, Leona Davidson, Kevin Lau, Jennifer Smele, Tanya Charles-Iveniuk, and Janal Betchold and continued to create pieces for ensembles such as The Oriana Women’s Choir, The Amici Ensemble, The Odin Quartet and the Rachel Moore’s Choral Project in New York. Rachel has worked intensely on her film scoring strategies by completing two consecutive Berklee Programs: the Intensive High school Composition Program and the Film Scoring in LA Program. These programs introduced her to the business of composing and enhanced her composition skills for different genres of film, all while attending master classes taught by Timothy Huling, James Newton Howard, Chris Lennertz, and Tom Holkenborg. She is currently a Games and Interactive Media Scoring student at Berklee with a scholarship and is expected to graduate in 2025. She continues to compose music for her Berklee classes and ensembles under the supervision of Sean McMahon and hopes to one day work for Disney.
