Khelsey Zarraga

Violinist and Teaching Artist

2025 Make a Wave

Music

Khelsey Zarraga (she/her) is an African American and Venezuelan violinist, teaching artist, improviser, arranger, recording artist, and social justice advocate based in Chicago, IL.

Khelsey performs a wide variety of genres and has performed concerts of gospel, hip-hop, jazz, and classical music. She is a proud member of D-Composed, an all-Black chamber music collective celebrating the works of Black composers. She has collaborated with acclaimed artists and creatives such as Jamila Woods, Tricia Hersey, Cheryl Lynne Bruce, Pamela Z, Nathalie Joachim, Pauli the PSM, Angel Bat Dawid, and Plinio Fernandes. She has created original compositions and arrangements for D-Composed and enjoys curating new, community focused projects. She is also the founding violinist of Black Moon Trio, where she collaborated with artists such as poet/author Michael Tyler and author Robin Wall Kimmerer. Black Moon Trio also released two albums to critical acclaim, Principal and Flourish.

Khelsey has enjoyed performing across Europe, South America, and the Caribbean in venues such as the Chicago Theater, Kaufman Music Center, Sala São Paulo, Wilbur Theater, and Harris Theater. As a teaching artist, she has led workshops and panels on community engagement, representation in classical music, and composition, and she has been in residence and led masterclasses at the Jacobs School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Connecticut SummerFest, University of Louisville, and Denison University. Khelsey is a mentor for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative, and she is on the administrative staff at United States Artists.

Khelsey Zarraga's Website

Featured Artworks

Six people stand in front of a projection screen that reads D-Composed on Screen. There are black chairs behind them and two microphones on the chairs.

D-Composed at the Chicago International Film Festival, 2024 Image by Sean Kennedy for Chicago International Film Festival

Five performers sit on stage all playing different musical instruments. There are plants and different greenery wrapped around microphone stands and music stands.

D-Composed with Jamila Woods at the Kehrein Center, 2025 Image by Ashley Mia

Six people stand on a stage. They are holding musical instruments, three violins and one cello. They are all smiling at the camera, most are wearing black but one person is in all white.

D-Composed with Tricia Hersey at the Gary Comer Youth Center, 2024 Image by Sulyiman Stokes

Black Moon Trio in residence at the DuPage Children's Museum

Five people stand on stage, smiling at the camera. Behind them is a stained glass window. To their right there is a projection on a screen titled The Great Lakes.

Black Moon Trio at the Driehaus Museum

Four performers stand in an all white room with large windows. Two of them are holding instruments, there are a few black chairs and music stands spread out in the room.

Black Moon Trio with Michael Tyler at the Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods, 2023 Image by Rafael Santiago