Rachel O’Connor

Dr. Rachel O’Connor is a French hornist who has performed internationally as a soloist and orchestral musician. She is currently based in Los Angeles, California, where she performs with orchestras and for top industry clients such as Netflix, AppleTV and Coachella. She also recently appeared with the Phoenix Symphony as Assistant Principal horn. She was also a member of the National Repertory Orchestra in 2021 and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada from 2015-2018. Rachel recently earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Horn and Master’s of Musicology from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Rachel also enjoys doing research and won the American Musicological Society’s Irving Lowens Award in 2021 for her research on the forced migration of El-Sistema trained Venezuelan musicians. In 2019 Rachel was the recipient of the Presser Graduate Music Award, which she used to do a teaching artist tour in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico. When Rachel isn’t practicing or teaching, she enjoys spending time with her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.