Sarah Taylor Ellis

Composer-in-Residence, The Nightingale-Bamford School

Class Year

2008

Professional Background

After graduating from Duke, I completed a Ph.D. in Theater and Performance Studies at UCLA. In my last year of dissertating, I moved to NYC and began work as a freelance teaching artist for organizations including Roundabout Theatre Company and the Metropolitan Opera Guild. I recently accepted a full-time position at a girls school on the UES where I have developed music composition curriculum for middle and upper school. I continue to publish my music/theater scholarship and compose musicals, which have been workshopped and produced in LA, DC, and NYC.

How has being an English graduate from Duke University helped shape your professional success?

On a practical level, my English major thoroughly prepared me for the rigor of a Ph.D. program. But on a broader and more lasting scale, the university's passion for lifelong learning has profoundly influenced my personal and professional life, and I daily recognize that my own teaching practice is rooted in the close mentorship and support I felt as an undergraduate at Duke.

Sarah Taylor Ellis