Elizabeth Lyon Hall

 Hi!  I am the director of music for Cornell and Ithaca College Catholic Communities. It was, perhaps, inevitable that liturgical music be a part of my life, as all four of my grandparents were church organists and music directors.  Several generations back, there was even a violin-playing nun in the family.  My debut as a church musician began at the age of 5 playing the Bach-Gounod "Ave Maria" with my sister for school Mass at Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church.  It was a big hit (not to brag), and our "Ave Maria" became a fixture of liturgies for all the Marian feast days.  Currently, I am finishing a PhD in musicology with a dissertation entitled "Theorizing Music as Spiritual Practice: Perspectives from Augustine to Tinctoris" in which I examine medieval philosophical and theological theories of the ethical and spiritual value of music (both in and out of liturgy). While at Cornell, I met my husband (and fellow campus minister), Matthew Hall. We have a one year old son named Dominic who loves to practice organ with dad. Before coming to Cornell, I earned a B.A. in Classical Studies from Columbia University and a M.M. in cello at the Juilliard School.   

I am passionate about helping to foster a loving, inclusive, and diverse Catholic community at Cornell, and I look forward to serving the community not only through my musical work, but through organizing small groups (such as Bible Study and special topic discussion groups) and public fora for "big questions" such as empowering women in the Catholic church, living in a global Catholic church, and trauma and healing after the Catholic clergy sexual abuse crisis.  I also look forward to working together with my fellow students to develop healthy, spiritually-based approaches to thriving in the (often) stressful environments of college campuses.  

I would love to hear from you! Please don't hesitate to get in touch at ell67@cornell.edu