Artistic Director and Conductor

Marek Rachelski enjoys a rich variety in his musical life as conductor, collaborative artist in recital, pianist, harpsichordist, and organist. This coming 2025-26 season he will appear with the Musica Lumina Orchestra in Prague in early October in programs of Suk, Dvorak, Smetana and Mozart. As conductor he has appeared with orchestras in the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Canada and the USA. Mr. Rachelski has served on the faculties of Loyola University and De Paul University. He is the Artistic Director of the Musica Lumina Orchestra and Conductor/Founder (2013) of the Niles Metropolitan Chorus. In eleven seasons the NMC/MLO has performed major works of the repertoire: Requiems of Cherubini, Donizetti, Mozart, Faure, Rutter; the Magnificats of Pärt, Bach and Pergolesi; Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass & selections from Faust and Romeo & Juliet; Haydn’s Creation; Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater; Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Lobgesang, Op. 52; the Poulenc Gloria; a yearly Handel’s Messiah conducted from the harpsichord; the St. Matthew Passion and the St. John Passion of J. S. Bach; Bruckner’s Mass No. 2 in e minor; Missa Popularis by Marten Jansson; A Little Jazz Mass by Chilcott; Gjeilo’s Luminous Night of the Soul. As Resident Conductor of the Chicago Bar Association Symphony Orchestra 2017-24, he led the preparation of the orchestra for all of their concerts. As Music Director of Opera Las Vegas he conducted complete staged performances of Puccini’s La Bohème, Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore, Mollicone’s The Face on the Barroom Floor, a Puccini 150th Retrospective and accompanied aria recitals. He was also the founder/conductor of the Las Vegas Peoples Valley Chorus, performing Requiems by Faure, Rutter and Brahms; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Vespers; Rossini’s Stabat Mater; Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans; Handel’s Judas Maccabeus and Messiah; and various Bach Cantatas. As Assistant Conductor at the Prague Ballet Theater he prepared the world premiere choreographed version of Smetana’s tone poem Ma Vlast. As Assistant Conductor of the Elgin (IL) Symphony he conducted Young People’s Concerts, Holiday Concerts and performed with Victor Borge at Poplar Creek Music Theater; he was also Music Director of the Valley Civic Orchestra and conducted the Elgin Area Youth Orchestras. A composer and arranger of over 100 works, Marek is published with World Library and GIA. He was commissioned for a setting of Psalm 145 for the Papal Mass in Detroit, a Magnificat by the Lira Singers for their 25th Anniversary and more recently an Anima Christi and Dwa Serduska for chorus and orchestra. With RA Editions, he released a series of technical studies for double bass and cello. In addition to awards from the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, he was presented with the Pulaski Award for his contributions to Polish American Culture. As the first Director of Recordings for World Library Publications, he produced and directed recordings with members of the Lyric Opera and Chicago Symphony Choruses. Marek holds degrees from Northwestern University, Wayne State University and the Academy of Music in Prague HAMU. He studied conducting with Jiri Belohlavek, Frantisek Vajnar, Kenneth Keisler, Robert A. Harris, Dennis Tini, Joseph Labuta, and in masterclass with Jo-Michael Scheibe, Mark Gibson, John Nelson, Gustave Meier, Jorge Mester, Daniel Lewis, Leonard Slatkin and Lorin Maazel.