Rachel Santesso

Rachel Zeffira
Birth name	Rachel Santesso
Occupation(s)	Vocalist, musician, singer-songwriter, conductor, choral arranger
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, oboe, cor anglais, violin, viola, percussion
Associated acts	Cat's Eyes, Capital Children's Choir

Rachel Zeffira (born Rachel Santesso) is a Canadian soprano, composer and multi-instrumentalist currently based in London, England. She is also one half of the duo Cat's Eyes, the other being Faris Badwan of the Horrors.

Zeffira studied voice and organ at the Conservatorio Di Musica F.E. Dall'Abaco di Verona and oboe at the University of Victoria in Canada. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2001, founded the Capital Children's Choir, which she also directs. Several videos of the choir's covers of contemporary songs such as "Chances" and "Untrust Us" received media attention and went viral. Zeffira released several albums with the Capital Children's Choir, and in 2015, the choir performed on the soundtrack for the film Pan. As a soprano, she released two albums, The Songs of Louis Vierne (2005) and The Sacred Heart of Nino Rota (2007).

Zeffira taught briefly at a primary school in London, where she taught a young Lily Allen, who has credited Zeffira as a mentor.

While Zeffira was working as an opera singer and classical musician, she met Badwan. The two friends began to write songs together and formed the band Cat's Eyes. The duo made their first public appearance at the Vatican, where they performed one of their songs as a mass setting, with church organ and choir during a service at St. Peter's Basilica. Cat's Eyes were signed by Polydor in 2010 and released their eponymous debut album in April 2011. The album received positive press and critical acclaim. During this time, Zeffira appeared in Vogue magazine, and was shot by the photographer Rankin for the cover of Dazed & Confused alongside Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream.

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