Graduate Students 2023–2024
Ally Stapleton is a second-year student in Religion and Literature. Ally earned her undergraduate degree in English from Wheaton College and comes to Yale from work with unhoused communities in Denver, CO. At YDS and the ISM, she explores the resources that 20th and 21st-century experimental poetry provide for rethinking belonging and legibility in contexts of social exclusion. Ally works with the Yale Prison Education Initiative at Dwight Hall and at New Reach, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting housing stability for women and families in New Haven.
Alexander completed his Bachelor of Music at McGill University Schulich School of Music and his secondary school studies at Michigan’s Interlochen Arts Academy. While still a teenager, Alex undertook a Canada Council-funded summer 2019 concert tour of the UK, playing in historic churches and cathedrals. In fall 2019, he was appointed titular organist at Église du Très-Saint-Nom-de-Jésus in Montréal, whose four-manual, 120-rank Casavant organ is acclaimed to be one of Canada’s finest. Alex has further expanded the organ’s reach by creating more than 50 original transcriptions of major orchestral works, reflecting his passion for the symphonic organ as a virtually unlimited medium for artistic expression. He is thrilled to be at ISM to learn from Professors Martin Jean, Carole Terry, and James O’Donnell and to play the finest organs.
Eliana comes to Yale Divinity School from Davis, California, where she worked at the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office after graduating from Yale College in 2021. During her undergraduate experience, Eliana studied poetry and human rights. At YDS, Eliana is continuing to write her own poetry and study different art forms as sites of memory. From her experiences in direct service, Eliana has developed a particular concern for how we not only alleviate the suffering of those who are incarcerated or unhoused, but also how we honor and remember the dignity of all those who pass in these circumstances.
Alex is thrilled to be starting their first year of their Choral Conducting MM here at Yale, where they also received their MA in Music History after graduating from Yale College. Their primary area of study is Puerto Rican choral music, focusing on reconstructions of works by Felipe Gutiérrez y Espinosa. Alex has served as a Teaching Artist with the YSM’s Music in Schools Initiative and has performed with ensembles such as the Yale Baroque Opera Project and the Yale Collegium Musicum. Outside of academics, Alex spends their time baking, cycling, and dancing salsa, reggaeton, and—though less frequently these days—ballet.
Margaret is delighted to call the ISM her home for her doctoral studies! Before coming to Yale, Margaret taught high school in the Chicagoland area and earned her Master of Music in conducting from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the summers, Margaret regularly returns to Chicago to teach in summer programming at the Goodman Theatre and to serve as music director for Shakespeare in the Park productions in the suburb of Wheaton. Outside of music, Margaret loves to cook, bake, sew, and get into good conversations with new and old friends.
Menfei was born in Dalian, China and began her studies at the affiliated middle and high schools of Shenyang Conservatory of Music. She has since earned performance degrees from Xinghai Conservatory of Music (B.A. Piano), Ithaca College (M.M. Piano and Organ), and UNC-Greensboro (D.M.A. Piano and Historical Keyboard). Mengfei holds a special interest in French keyboard music and conducts her doctoral research toward organ influences in selected piano works by Franck, Widor, and Dupré. In her spare time, Mengfei enjoys hiking.
Pianist Sindy Yang is a native of Connecticut. She holds a B.M. in piano performance from Manhattan School of Music and a graduate performance certificate in piano performance from Bard Conservatory; her primary piano instructors include Peter Serkin, Richard Goode, and Shai Wosner. Sindy’s primary academic interests center around ethical dimensions implicit in artistic practice and aesthetic experience from philosophical and religious frameworks. As music remains paramount to her identity, Sindy hopes her studies at both Yale Divinity and the ISM will help to cultivate depth and richness to her work as a musician and artist.
Rachel Zhu comes to New Haven from New Jersey. She completed her B.A. at Boston University, where she double-majored in English and political science. Now at Yale, she seeks to research expressions of goodness in Russian and English literature, as well as the religious and philosophical traditions that inform them. She is particularly interested in virtue ethics, Christianity, and Dostoevsky. Outside of class, she enjoys writing, taking walks, exploring new restaurants, and browsing used book sales.