Boston Symphony Orchestra Names Three New Fellows to the Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine BSO Resident Fellowship

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has named violinist Rachel Arcega Orth, cellist Maximiliano Oppeltz, and violist Yuri Hughes as recipients of the Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine BSO Resident Fellowship for Early-Career Musicians, with Rachel Arcega Orth designated as the Volpe Family Chair.  

Launched at the start of the 2022–2023 season, the fellowship supports string players from historically underrepresented backgrounds through paid appointments with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Fellows perform at Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, and on national and international tours with both the BSO and Boston Pops. In addition to an annual salary, health benefits, and a housing stipend, fellows receive stipends for private lessons and audition travel and specialized audition coaching. This year's fellows were selected through a competitive process involving a live audition at Symphony Hall.  

Orth, Oppeltz, and Hughes, who will first perform with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this fall, comprise the fellowship's second cohort, succeeding inaugural resident fellows Leonardo Vásquez Chacón and Andres Vela. They are appointed for one year with the opportunity to renew for a second year.  

The BSO Resident Fellowship program and the opportunities it offered Chacón and Vela were described in a segment that aired on CRB classical radio earlier this year. Chronicling the fellowship's origins, host Brian McCreath wrote that the program “answers the call of change for American orchestras.” Reflecting on his experience as a fellow, Vela commented, “I never spent this much time with a professional orchestra before. So, I think one of the things that surprised me was the amount of repertoire that they cover... I was very excited about it, just because I get to play all these pieces I've never played.” The story is available online on CRB's website. 

Rachel Arcega Orth

Filipino-American violinist Rachel Arcega Orth is an active soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral performer. She has performed across the United States, Canada, France, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina. As a freelance musician, she has performed with such internationally renowned orchestras as the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and Spoleto Festival Orchestra USA. Orth has served as artist-faculty for Festival Musicians for the World in Peru. In addition to giving masterclasses and coaching students in Lima and Cusco, she performed Mendelssohn's Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Strings with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Arequipa. During the four-week festival, she also appeared as a soloist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Cusco and Camerata Musicians for the World. Other recent highlights include a featured solo with the New York City Ballet's summer performance series at the Spoleto Festival USA. She is pursuing a doctoral degree at Boston University, where she earned a master's degree in violin performance. She holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance from Texas Christian University, where she graduated with honors. 

Maximiliano Oppeltz

Maximiliano Oppeltz started playing the cello at the age of four as a student of El Sistema in Caracas, Venezuela. As a part of the world-renowned music program and orchestras, he participated in numerous master classes with cellists such as Natalia Gutman and Phillipe Muller. In 2014, Oppeltz moved to the U.S. to study at the Juilliard School with Professor Richard Aaron. As an undergraduate student, he participated in several lessons and master classes with cellist Franz Helmerson and Lynn Harrell and performed at Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall. As a fellow at Music Academy of the West, he performed alongside Music Academy of the West faculty at Hahn Hall, in Santa Barbara, and was featured in a chamber music series at WQXR in 2018. Following his time at Juilliard, he pursued graduate degrees as a Neumann fellow at the University of Denver in 2018 and a Diversity Fellow with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 2020 and has performed with the Cincinnati and Baltimore symphony orchestras. He is currently playing with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.   

Yuri Hughes

New York City-based violist Yuri Hughes has performed throughout the U.S. as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A. and with such ensembles as the Albany and Harrisburg symphonies. During her time in New York City, she produced various LGBTQ+ nightlife events in Brooklyn under her drag persona, Kirlia. As a violist, she has toured the globe with several festival orchestras, visiting Austria, Czechia, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Japan, Mexico, and the Netherlands, and performing with prominent conductors including Marin Alsop, Christoph Eschenbach, Valery Gergiev, and Hugh Woolf. Yuri Hughes received her undergraduate degree at the New England Conservatory of Music, studying under acclaimed concert violist Kim Kashkashian until 2021. At NEC, she participated in countless seminars and masterclasses with all four members of the Borromeo quartet, Merry Peckham, and Paula Robison. Her love of music sprouted when she attended Greenwood Music Camp, a New England chamber music festival, where she worked in the summers of 2021 and 2022 as a staff counselor. 

More Information About the BSO Resident Fellowship

The Susan W. and Stephen D. Paine BSO Resident Fellowship is an employment-based fellowship that provides an unparalleled opportunity for early-career symphonic musicians from backgrounds that have historically been underrepresented in symphonic orchestras. This paid fellowship focuses on career development and immersive orchestra mentorship through a one or two-year appointment as a musician in the Boston Symphony Orchestra.  The fellowship is named in honor of former Board Chair Susan W. Paine, a strong advocate for inclusion, transformation, and growth at the BSO, and her late husband Stephen. 

For more information about the fellowship and application process, visit our website. 

How to Purchase Tickets

Tickets and subscriptions to the 2024–25 BSO season are available to purchase by calling 888-266-1200 or visiting bso.org.

About the BSO

Led by Music Director Andris Nelsons since 2014, the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave its inaugural concert in 1881 and opened Symphony Hall—widely acclaimed as one of the greatest concert halls in the world—in 1900. Today, the BSO reaches millions of listeners through not only its concert performances in Boston and at Tanglewood—the orchestra's summer home in Lenox and Stockbridge, Mass.—but also via educational and community programs, radio, television, recordings, and tours. Celebrated for its diverse programs, passionate performances, and tradition of innovation, the BSO is one of the world's most accomplished and versatile ensembles, attracting world-renowned guest artists and players, composers, and conductors. More information about the BSO and Andris Nelsons may be found at bso.org.

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