Who Am I?

I have always been fascinated by music – its history and place in society and the power it exerts over the listener. This interest lead me first to play instruments and sing, then to compose my own music, starting at age eight, and finally to become a music historian. I completed a BA in composition at Smith College in 2008 and a PhD in musicology at Princeton in 2017. My musicological research focuses on  Renaissance and Baroque madrigal and opera, with a dissertation titled Musical Descents: Creating and Re-Creating Hell in Italian Opera, 1600-1680. I have presented my research at numerous academic conferences, including the American Musicological Society, the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, and the Renaissance Society of America.  I have also been a finalist for the ASCAP Morton Gould and BMI awards in composition, and I have over ten years of teaching experience.

As well as teaching college courses in music history, I give online lessons in composition. Please click here and scroll down to my name to learn more and sign up!