Dr. Rachel Becker is Assistant Professor of Musicology and Oboe in the Department of Music. Rachel received her PhD from the University of Cambridge, and her MM in Oboe Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also has an MPhil from the University of Oxford. Dr. Becker's research focuses on issues of genre, virtuosity, gender, popularity, and the development of woodwind instruments. She explores social and cultural influences on woodwind opera fantasias, including their reception history and the (positive and negative) emotional responses they have evoked contemporaneously and today, as well as the ways in which the composer-performers manipulated the operas they used. Future research plans include investigating the original performance spaces of these pieces, as well as the specific mechanics of instruction and performance of these intensely virtuosic works at the time in which they were composed. Dr. Becker also remains active as a performing oboist. She has recently played with the Portland Opera, with the King’s College and St John’s College, Cambridge choirs and with the renowned Philharmonia Orchestra as a part of the King’s College 500 celebrations.