Rebecca Severy

PhD student in Music, Christ's College, Cambridge

Rebecca Severy is a PhD student in Music and William Barclay Squire Scholar at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Supervised by Professor David Trippett, her doctoral research focuses on Richard Wagner and nineteenth-century linguistic nationalism.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Rebecca studied at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. She graduated from the Faculty of English in 2022, passed the MPhil in Music with distinction in 2023, and was awarded an MA in 2026. The title of her MPhil dissertation was ‘“His Rhythm Destroys my Rhythm”: Virginia Woolf’s Between the Acts, Richard Wagner, and the Emotive Power of Music’. She was elected as Masters Academic Representative in 2023.

Rebecca has been awarded a Grade 8 distinction and ARSM with distinction in the cello, a Grade 8 in singing, and AMusTCL with distinction in Music Theory. She is an active cellist and soprano within the University and beyond, and was the Junior President of the Fitzwilliam College Music Society from 2020 to 2023. She regularly sings as a soprano and alto with Christ's College Chapel Choir.

Rebecca also writes opera reviews for the journal Operapoint, edited by Dr Martin Knust. Her most recent reviews include Richard Wagner's Die Walküre (Royal Opera House, London, 1 May 2025) and Wagner's Siegfried (Royal Opera House, London, 17 March 2026).