Ellen Peters has been part of the UnTours family since 2000, for more than half of the company’s 50-year history. As Accounting Director for both UnTours and the UnTours Foundation, she works quietly in the background, keeping the books balanced and the whole operation grounded.
A liberal arts graduate of Vassar College, Ellen has lived in eight cities across the US and Italy, the kind of résumé that suggests someone who has always understood that a life well lived requires moving through the world with curiosity. What has kept her at UnTours for more than 26 years isn’t the numbers, it’s the people and the philosophy. She was shaped early on by founders Hal and Norma Taussig, whose belief that business can do something meaningful in the world informs how she shows up every day.
When she steps away from the spreadsheets at five o’clock, Ellen steps onto a stage. A core mezzo-soprano, she has been a fixture of the Philadelphia choral world for decades. She has sung with Opera Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Singers, the Mendelssohn Club, Curtis Opera, Coro Mundi, the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and the Crossing, with whom she appeared on Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning recordings. Her performances have taken her to venues including the Bard SummerScape Festival, the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Westminster Cathedral, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, La MaMa Experimental Theatre, and Madison Square Garden. She has also been in the backup choir for Andrea Bocelli, Taylor Mac, Rod Stewart, and the Rolling Stones on their 50th anniversary tour.
At home in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Ellen shares her life with her husband Jim, a rescue cat, a jungle of houseplants, and a backyard that is a certified Wildlife Habitat — home to foxes, raccoons, red squirrels, crows, and countless native birds.
