ABOUT
Originally from Nashville, TN, Ellen Hardcastle attended New York University and completed her Bachelor of Music in Music Theory and Composition. She grew up with a diverse musical background — she was completely saturated in Nashville’s underground garage rock scene on the weekends and practiced hours of classical piano during the week. She began composing when she was about eleven, and has since expanded into writing for string quartets, new music ensembles, orchestral arrangements, and even jazz bands. Ellen is currently a managerial associate at Columbia Artists Management LLC and is a member of the New York-based band, Strange Loops. She is also working on a commission for the percussion duo, Washington Squared, to be premiered in Spring 2019.
"She is a fantastic pianist, btw."
- John Green
In the Spring of 2015, her composition professor Pedro H. da Silva requested her to be his personal assistant. Da Silva, an internationally renowned Portuguese guitarist/composer, along with his wife, virtuoso Argentinian pianist/composer Lucía Caruso, co-direct their successful World Music orchestra called The Manhattan Camerata. Since beginning with the Manhattan Camerata, she has co-directed all of the social media and press, assisted with booking venues such as (le) Poisson Rouge and Lincoln Center, worked on music editing for a Grammy-nominated artist (NDA), and co-wrote/edited album notes for their critically acclaimed album, The Tango Fado Project. Her favorite project with the ensemble was working with the 96-year-old holocaust survivor, Inge Ginsberg, to create authentic power grandma death metal music. An op-ed about the project was recently featured in the New York Times.
In the Spring of 2015, Ellen interned at Boosey & Hawkes as an archivist. The company publishes a vast selection of 20th-century composers, such as Stravinsky, Copland, Bernstein, Britten, John Adams, and Steve Reich. Her responsibilities included locating scores in the catalog, assessing the historical importance of special items, and filing music.
In addition to working for the Manhattan Camerata, she was also the Vice President of the NYU Composers’ Collective, a club within the Steinhardt School at NYU that organizes several shows for students studying music. Her responsibilities included brainstorming ideas for showcases, curating shows, working closely with administration and the Undergraduate Steinhardt Government to get their shows approved, organizing and processing forms, hiring musicians, lighting designers, audio engineers, and hosting concerts.
When Ellen was 15, she had the opportunity to record an album of ten original piano solos at Ben Folds' historic studio B in Nashville. The album sold several hundred copies and had over 26,000 streams. Ellen donated the profit towards building a water well in Malawi, which benefited over 11,000 people.
