amy scurria was born into a military family and showed an early interest in music, memorizing the piano assignments of her sister jackie. at age 11 she took lessons under the suzuki method and began composing. scurria graduated from rice university in houston, texas, in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in composition. in 1998 she received a master's degree in composition from johns hopkins university. she completed her doctoral degree in 2015 from duke university in durham. dr. scurria has also studied at la schola cantorum in paris, france.