I am an interdisciplinary scholar and educator whose work focuses on the diverse ways in which operas are reimagined, adapted, and translated to meet the needs of new audiences. I earned an A.B. in Literature from Harvard University in 2010, and a Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017. I have presented my research nationally and internationally, on such topics as: librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte’s translation and adaptation work; the use of Italianate vocal stylings in late-18th-century performances of British patriotic songs; and the ways in which opera subtitles for productions of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte disguise the racism inherent in the opera.
I have taught a variety of musicology courses at institutions across the Mid-Atlantic region, including: the University of Pennsylvania, the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Temple University, and West Chester University. The seminars I’ve developed, which include “Powerful Women in Opera,” “Mozart’s Operas,” and “Exoticism on the Musical Stage,” seek to empower students to engage with the canon of Western Classical Music through research, analysis, and critique. In the Fall of 2021, I was named Opera Philadelphia’s first Scholar in Residence, and I enjoy providing educational content for all of Opera Philadelphia’s audience members.
I am a trained coloratura soprano and sing as a Marian Anderson Scholar Artist with the National Marian Anderson Museum and Historical Society.