Jennifer Kelly
Assistant Professor of Music
Director of Choral Activities
D.M.A. (Choral Conducting): University of California, Los Angeles
Courses Taught:
Women in Music
FYS: Political Cartoons
Neuroscience of Music (co-developed)
Musical Director:
Urinetown
Little Women
Contact:
Phone: (610) 330-5677
Email: kellyjw@lafayette.edu
Biography:
Jennifer Kelly (Assitant Professor/Director of Choral Activities) is the Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Lafayette College, Pennsylvania. She currently conducts two ensembles in the Music Department at Lafayette, teaches Women in Music and is co-developing the course Neuroscience of Music. Dr. Kelly is also an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. Learning from her mentor Donald Neuen, her ensembles are known for their energy and dynamic versatility, singing a range of genres and styles throughout the ages.
Prior to joining the faculty at Lafayette, Dr. Kelly lived and worked in the Los Angeles area as an Associate Professor at Los Angeles Valley College and an orchestral conductor at the Kadima Conservatory. At LA Valley College, she conducted three ensembles, founded the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and taught classes in western classical music, American music and cultures, musical theatre, and voice. She was honored to have received the Woman in Education Award at Valley College in 2004. She obtained her doctoral degree in conducting from the University of California, Los Angeles, under Donald Neuen. Recently, Dr. Kelly was invited to study with Simon Carrington at the 2009 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She is also an advocate of Dalcroze Eurythmics and participated in an intensive study of Dalcroze at the Marta Sanchez Training Center, Carnegie Mellon University in 2008.
Her scholarly interests include American music, particularly that of contemporary women composers. She has presented her research around the United States, and internationally in China and the U.K. Her publications include articles and reviews for Choral Journal, Journal for the International Alliance of Women in Music, and The Kapralova Society Journal. Selections of Dr. Kelly’s conducted performance of Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony are featured on an interactive DVD authored by Dr. Robert Winter.
She is also a musical theatre director, including such shows as Chicago, Urinetown, Little Women, and Pippin. Dr. Kelly is a professional singer, having studied with Karen Morrow, Kari Windigstadt-White, and Dorothy Warenskjold. She has served on the state committees of the Music Association of California Community Colleges and the American Choral Directors Association, California chapter. Dr. Kelly is currently working on a book of contemporary American women composers.