Soprano, researcher, and teacher Dr. Michaela Kelly is on faculty as a lecturer at Scripps College and Chapman University. Dr. Kelly was a recipient of the 2024 Emerging Leader Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and currently serves as Vice President of Programs for NATS - Los Angeles. Her article “The Composition of a Voice Lesson: How a Motor Learning Classification Framework Affects Teacher Effectiveness” will be published in the May/June edition of this year’s Journal of Singing. She was a recent presenter at the Cal-Western NATS Conference and poster presenter at the NATS National Conference where she shared her research titled, “What Is In a Voice Lesson Anyway?” which analyzes the contents of a voice lesson through the lens of a motor learning framework.
A flexible and dynamic performer, Dr. Kelly has most recently sung with the Los Angeles Opera Chorus and Los Angeles Master Chorale. She is an avid recitalist and passionate about art song. Dr. Kelly was a recipient of the inaugural American Art Song Prize at SongFest where she performed a recital curated and coached by Libby Larsen, John Musto and Martha Guth. She has performed as a recitalist at Toronto Summer Music Festival, the Classical Music Institute, Source Song Festival and has appeared as a soloist with the Claremont Concert Orchestra, Thornton Wind Ensemble, I Cantori di Carmel, New England Conservatory Opera, and NEC Choirs and Orchestra.
Dr. Kelly holds a Bachelor’s of Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Master’s of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from the New England Conservatory, and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Southern California.