Rate My Professor Lauren Becker

Dr. Lauren Becker serves as Associate Professor of Horn at the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York College at Potsdam, a position she has held since 2015. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree and Performer's Certificate, as well as a Master of Music in Horn Performance and Literature, from the Eastman School of Music. Additionally, she holds a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the University of New Hampshire. Before joining SUNY Potsdam, Dr. Becker taught horn at Nazareth College, the University of Rochester, and the Eastman Community Music School. She continues to contribute to music education as a horn instructor and chamber music coach at Kendall Betts Horn Camp, Crane Youth Music, the New York Summer Music Festival, and the Summer Youth Music School at the University of New Hampshire.

Renowned for her freelance performances, Dr. Becker has appeared with prestigious ensembles such as the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Symphoria, the Kuala Lumpur International Festival Orchestra, and the North Country Chamber Players. As a member of the Potsdam Brass Quintet and the American Wild Ensemble (Music in the American Wild), she has championed world premieres of commissioned works in extraordinary settings across the United States, including concert halls, fields, mountain tops, caves, schools, universities, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, George Eastman Museum, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and numerous national parks like Olympic, Mount Rainier, North Cascades, Shenandoah, Great Smoky Mountains, Mammoth Cave, and Hawai'i Volcanoes. Her discography features Music in the American Wild (2018) with the American Wild Ensemble, Manhattan Music with the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Canadian Brass on Opening Day Entertainment Group, and selected works of Bartók with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra on Naxos Records. Dr. Becker was awarded the 2013 Teaching Assistant Prize for excellence in collegiate teaching by the Eastman School of Music. She has also presented at significant conferences, including the International Brass Festival at the University of Florida School of Music, the Northeast Regional Tuba and Euphonium Conference, the Erie County Music Educators Association Western New York Conference Day, the NAfME Eastern Division Conference, and the NYSSMA Winter Conference.