The late Ellen Parrella was born in Vienna, Austria, and lived in Newtown, CT since 1960. She returned to the “City of Music” annually to visit family and friends. Ellen delighted in hearing the Vienna New Year’s Day concert broadcast “live” on WMNR Fine Arts Radio every January 1st.

She had been surrounded by classical music since childhood and in her later years she sang in a local church choir. During the 1970s she brought symphony orchestras, ballet, opera and live Broadway theater to Newtown under the aegis of the Newtown Arts Festival. For over twenty-five years she led the Newtown Friends of Music, inviting outstanding musicians to Edmond Town Hall in five chamber music concerts each year.

Ellen took John Babina's WMNR Radio Operations course in the 1980s but she didn’t find the time to devote to broadcasting the music she loves until 2012. At that time she began hosting Wednesday Morning Classics. Ellen had been a friend of WMNR since the early 1980s, volunteering to answer phones during memebership drives since our days at Masuk High School.