Born in Mexico City, Raquel Contreras Salinas began her clarinet studies at the School of Music of the University of Veracruz, as a student of her father, Maestro José Alberto Contreras Sosa, (bass clarinetist and assistant of the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra), and she had the honor of being the first to major in clarinet. She studied at the National Conservatory of the Region of Versailles, Paris, with Maestro Philippe Cuper (First Super Soloist of the Paris Opera) and was awarded First Prize by a unanimous decision of the Jury. She has performed chamber music on a variety of national and international stages, in Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Queretaro, Mexico City, Puebla, Xalapa, Veracruz, Cordoba, Orizaba, Tampico, Monterrey, Paris, Italy, Spain, Peru, Belgium. As a soloist she has played with the orchestra of the Autonomous University of Tampico (UAT), the Camerata Academica de Merida, the Orchestra of the School of Music of the University of Veracruz, and the Xalapa Municipal Orchestra. Raquel Contreras Salinas received an honorable mention at the First Clarinet Competition Zacatecas, Zacatecas and at the Interlochen Arts Camp, Michigan. She was presented with the Exceptional Student Award of the School of Music of the University of Veracruz, which earned her the right to collaborate on the recording of a CD. Outstanding performance at the International Music Festival “Orfeo” Sofia, Bulgaria. As a teacher she has given courses on Clarinet Technique and Performance at the University of Music, Sciences and Arts of Chiapas in 2008, the Tlaxcalteca Institute of Culture in 2011, the Santa Ines Tecuexcomac and San Felipe Ixtacuixtla, “Introspection and Retrospection in music” 2012. At the Escuela Superior de Artes de Yucatan and in her own state. In February 2018 she taught and gave a recital at the VII Clarinet Workshop in Lima, Peru. She was a teacher and soloist of the clarinet choir, as part of the 4th Latin American Congress of Clarinetists in 2019, and gave a recital and concert at the International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival of the Northwest, in Chihuahua in 2019. She furthermore taught a Master Class at the School of Music Initiation “Julian Carrillo” in San Luis Potosi in 2019. She taught a class and gave a concert at the International Festival Vientos de la Montaña, in Texcoco in 2020, as well as a Class on Technique and Performance of the Clarinet to students of the BCDEP- UAA-San Francisco MIXTLA2021. She represented Mexico with the Mexico Clarinet Choir in Asis Italy, at the foremost festival of clarinetists, the Clarinetfest, in 2013, and was a clarinetist and director at the clarinetfest 2018 in Oostende, Belgium. She is currently first clarinet at the Symphonic Band of the State of Veracruz, teacher at the School of Music of the University of Veracruz and at the Higher Institute of Music of the State of Veracruz (ISMEV). She is the founder and director of the Xalapa clarinet ensemble TONALLI.