Rachel Beckles Willson is Associate Professor of Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published numerous articles and two monographs on music politics, giving special attention to the former Eastern Bloc and Israel/Palestine. Her most recent book was Ligeti, Kurtág, and Hungarian Music during the Cold War (2007). Rachel originally trained as a pianist at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, before reading for a Ph.D. at King's College London. She has taught a wide range of courses, including Music and Orientalism, Communism and Music, and Intercultural Performance. Between 2008 and 2010 she was based at the Humboldt University in Berlin, supported by a Fellowship for Experienced Researchers from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Alongside her scholarly pursuits, she is an active musician, performing as a pianist, saxophonist and 'Å«d player.