About Ella

Hi there, I'm Ella! Born and raised in New York City, into a family full of inspiring, fabulously creative people, I had no choice but to find my own artistic path.

 

Some of my earliest and most formative memories took root as a kid on the road with my mum, who is a part of the vocal jazz quartet New York Voices. After a brief 3 month maternity leave, she was back on the road, bringing me along with her, and thus began the first few years of my life. While I was certainly very young, soaking up the close knit harmony, intricate improv and thoughtful phrasing that came with following the Voices around, has absolutely shaped my musical ear, both as a performer and writer. While my mum was working, there was often downtime for me and my dad. A creative soul himself. He grew up during the incredible span of music from the 60's and 70's and exposed me to each and every musical genre, rounding out my musical education and making me a passionate and curious listener just like him. I learned in this time that music was love, and sharing it was the ultimate form of connection with the world around you.

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Naturally though, all good things must come to an end; it was time to trade in my passport for a school calendar. In the early years of school, I did all of the performance related extra curricular one could do. I took dance and acting classes, I did theater camps and school musicals, I was the subject of many of my dad's home short films, and began classical voice training at age 11. It was here that I really found my love for musical theater and acting. This was my path, that I could make my own, adding a new branch to the creative family tree. 

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While I identify as a full on city-girl, the early years of my schooling were spent living on Long Island where I took advantage of every artistic opportunity there was to find. As I was getting ready to start high school in my small town I was curious about finding a more enthusiastic artistic community for me to be a part of, so I investigated what it would take to move us back to the city and attend one of the performing arts schools in NYC. My parents agreed and so a week before my freshman year, I spent the day at LaGuardia High School's summer auditions and earned myself one of very few coveted spots. It was here that I truly began to blossom. I was finally surrounded by people who were equally as passionate about what I had known to be true my entire life: the arts are absolutely integral to our existence! It was here that I did some of the most incredible choral singing I may ever do! It was here that I continued exploring my solo voice in classical, jazz and musical theater styles, became brave enough to start songwriting and sharing my own music in the wonderful collaborative New Music class, and perform as both a soloist and actor in various shows and musicals. Graduating in 2019, I am deeply grateful for this time and know it armed with the tools I needed to begin my next chapter as a Musical Theater major at the Boston Conservatory.

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Well, we all know this next story. By Spring Break of my second semester of freshman year (March, 2020), I was sent home to spend the foreseeable future with my parents. This was certainly not an easy time, but I felt lucky to learn some other things about myself as an 18 year old by taking time away from the rigorous arts training I'd known for as long as I could remember and focus on other life skills. I put my studies on pause at BoCo instead of continuing my Sophomore year on Zoom and joined the class below me when we were back in-person. I returned to school feeling refreshed and armed with a new sense of purpose and importance that many creatives felt at the time about what we were missing. 

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My years at BoCo have inspired me to cultivate, curate and combine the passions that make up my artistry. I discovered a gift for the nuance of accent-work, I reconnected with my voice as a songwriter, I honored my longstanding love of film and dove into every on-camera acting class and private coaching I could take, but most importantly, and please forgive me for getting sappy, I lived. I made life-long friends, I did some necessary im-maturing, I felt incredible highs and occasional lows, I made some beautiful food (because I am my mother's daughter), and I fell in love for the first time. All of the missing pieces of being a person on this planet came together, and I am a better artist for it. I am consistently excited by our ever-evolving industry and ready to bring my multifaceted artistry to the creative table.

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