Rachelle Jonck received her musical training at the conservatory of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa majoring in both piano and musicology.

After completing her studies, Rachelle joined Cape Town Opera as rehearsal pianist and vocal coach. She also taught at the Opera School of the University of Cape Town. Moving to Pretoria she served as Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor at the State Theater Opera. She founded the State Theater Philharmonic Choir and in a fruitful relationship with conductor Gérard Korsten presented a wide range of choral works including Bach's St. John Passion, the Brahms and Verdi Requiems, and many more.

For her contributions to opera in South Africa, she was awarded a FNB/Vita award with special mention of her work with the State Theater Opera Chorus and the Nederburg Opera Prize – South Africa’s premier opera award. Throughout her operatic career in her home country, she maintained a busy concert schedule accompanying local and visiting singers and instrumentalists, including serving as an official accompanist for the International String and Vocal Competitions in Pretoria.

In 1998 Rachelle moved to New York City as Head Vocal Coach and Assistant Conductor of Bel Canto at Caramoor with Will Crutchfield. Her work with the young artists of this company was featured in an article in Early Music America. Balancing her love for opera and song literature, she maintains a busy vocal coaching studio and enjoys recital collaborations when time permits.

Rachelle’s studio includes professionals whose careers take them to the largest opera houses of the world and younger singers still on the verge of a professional career. While her range of repertoire is wide, she has made a name for herself in New York City as a specialist in the Italian style - Handel, Mozart, and the bel canto masters, including Verdi.

During the COVID-19 pandemic of early 2020 she established Bel Canto Boot Camp with longtime collaborator Derrick Goff. It is home to The Vaccai Project: a course that teaches the elements of bel canto singing, Italian style and period notation practices, ornamentation and variation, and classic Italian poetry and libretto form, all based on Vaccai’s Metodo di canto. In its initial two sessions the project grew to include singers, teachers, coaches, and conductors from around the world. Read about Bel Canto Boot Camp projects here.