Dr. Connor Elias Way joined the Gustavus faculty in 2026 where he teaches music theory and composition.
He is a composer whose output spans works for orchestra and choirs to pieces for electric guitar quartets and detuned pianos. His music has been programmed and performed by leading ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, JACK Quartet, Contemporaneous, Sō Percussion, Yarn/wire, Gallicantus, Bergamot Quartet, Dither, and Arx Duo, at venues ranging from a mountain top in Georgia to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. He has been awarded fellowships from Yale School of Music’s Norfolk New Music Workshop, The Aspen Festival, Copland House CULTIVATE, and previously served as the Luzerne Music Center’s composer-in-residence.
A passionate educator, he taught composition, music theory, aural skills, counterpoint, and music technology at Princeton, Montclair State University, and Washington University in St. Louis before coming to Gustavus.
Find his work at connoreliasway.com.
MUS-201: Listening & Analysis I
MUS-202: Listening & Analysis II
MUS-216: Advanced Theory and Composition
Princeton University, Ph.D.
Princeton University, M.F.A.
Peabody Conservatory, M.M.
Georgia State University, B.Mus.