Rachel Beckles Willson
Professor by special appointment Intercultural Performing Arts
- Name
- Prof.dr. R. Beckles Willson
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 1480
- r.beckles.willson@hum.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0003-1421-8767
Rachel Beckles Willson is Professor of Intercultural Performing Arts at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA). This chair was established by Codarts. Her current artistic research interests lie in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, relationships with the other-than-human, and circularity in design processes.
More information about Rachel Beckles Willson
PhD candidates
See also
Fields of interest
Prof. dr. Rachel Beckles Willson has a hybrid professional arts practice, active as multi-instrumentalist, composer and scholar. Current artistic research projects are focused on cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, relationships with the other-than-human, and circularity in design processes. Alongside her Professorship at Leiden University, she works as 'lector' (Research Professor) at Codarts and Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam.
Research
Beckles Willson's earlier research focused on ways that musical creation is entangled with state politics (particularly in the former Eastern Bloc) and questions of decoloniality; and the implications of activist work with people on the move. She has also worked extensively with object biographies, and striven to decolonise knowledge, such as through her multi-authored, open-access webresource Oudmigrations. Her numerous monographs inclue Ligeti, Kurtág, and Hungarian Music during the Cold War (2007)), Orientalism and Musical Mission: Palestine and the West (2013) and The Oud: An Illustrated History (2023).
Grants and awards
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Fellowship for Experienced Researchers, 2008-2010
Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Grant 2008-2009
Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowship, 2015-18
Frances Densmore Prize 2021, American Musical Instrument Society for article ‘Orientation through Instruments : The Oud, the Palestinian Home, and Kamīlyā Jubrān’ in World of Music, 8/1, 2019.
Professor by special appointment Intercultural Performing Arts
- Faculty of Humanities
- Academy of Creative and Performing Arts
- Beckles Willson R. (26 January 2024). Concert and book presentation (The Oud: An Illustrated History) in collaboration with the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra. MAQAM. Amsterdam. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R. (15 March 2024). DisOrient: for oud and live electronics. Sound Talks. Culture Hub, Rotterdam. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R. (8 May 2023), What is intercultural performing art in an era of climate breakdown. Codarts, Rotterdam. [lecture].
- Beckles Wilson R. (2023), Against the grain of late style. Re-Thinking Central European Music. Budapest. [lecture].
- Beckles Willson R. (6 May 2023). Juggling with extinction: interactive sound installation. Manchester Museum. Manchester. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R. (20 May 2023). Encountering the ocean: electroacoustic performance of original composition (première). Manchester. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R. (20 May 2023). Entering the ocean: presentation of prototype children’s app for music-making with marine animals. Manchester. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R. (4 December 2023). Concert and book presentation (The Oud: An Illustrated History). Sijthoff Cultuur. Leiden. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R.. Sacred Space: electroacoustic work. Manchester. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R.. The jukebox that drowned: electroacoustic work. Manchester. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R.. Flames of Memory: electroacoustic work. Manchester. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R., Voulgaris E., Montanari C. & Tsarouchis K.. Sing no Sad Songs for Me. Reid Concert Hall. Edinburgh. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R.. Acem Kurdi Saz Semai. BBC Persian. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R.. Traditions of Ottoman Oud: from centre to periphery. Biblioteca Vallicelliana. Rome. [performance].
- Beckles Willson R., Voulgaris E., Montanari C. & Tsarouchis K.. Sing no Sad Songs for Me. Brunei Gallery, SOAS. London. [performance].