During the 2024-2025 academic year, Rachel Brake worked at Harvard University with the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. She managed many tasks simultaneously in this position as a woodwinds/brass/percussion coach, assistant conductor, music administrator, music librarian, and hiring manager. She proctored student auditions, assists with woodwind/brass/percussion part assignments, rents music for performances, helps oversee rehearsals, and manages musician attendance, among other responsibilities.

Brake teaches general music to Pre-K through 2nd-grade students at Brayton Elementary School in North Adams, Massachusetts. She designs well-structured and engaging music sessions that guide children to keep steady time, distinguish between their singing and speaking voice, match pitch, echo melodic and harmonic phrases, and identify the resting tone in major and minor tonalities. Preschool students look forward to music classes with joy, curiosity, and excitement as they develop crucial musical skills through engaging activities.

Brake received her M.M in Instrumental Conducting from the New England Conservatory in 2022 and earned a B.S. in music education from Roberts Wesleyan University in 2022 with a double concentration in piano and French horn. She was the 2021 concerto competition winner on horn with the Roberts Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra, and guest conductor for the RWSO and the University’s Wind Ensemble under the direction of Paul Shewan. At the Conservatory, Brake worked with Charles Peltz, Bill Drury, Erica Washburn, and Hugh Wolff. She was a guest conductor for the Navy Band Northeast, the Conservatory’s Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Winds, percussion ensemble, and saxophone ensemble. She currently serves on the faculty of the Preparatory School as a substitute conductor of large ensembles. Additional information on her current and upcoming work can be found at rachelbrake.com.