Dr. Jennifer Kelly is Director of the Arts/Associate Professor of Music/Director of Choral Activities at Lafayette College, and Artistic Director of the Concord Chamber Singers of the greater Lehigh Valley. Many ensembles have been under her baton including the Philharmonic Orchestra at the Kadima Conservatory, Los Angeles United Musicians Symphony Orchestra, UCLA Concert Choir, and several ensembles at the colleges of Los Angeles Valley and Lafayette. Dr. Kelly is also an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, musical director for theatre, and professional vocalist. Selections of her conducted performance of Amy Beach’s Gaelic Symphony are featured on an interactive DVD authored by Dr. Robert Winter. Obtaining her doctoral degree from University of California, Los Angeles, and learning from her mentor Donald Neuen, her ensembles are known for their energy, dynamic versatility, innovative programming, and impactful storytelling. In addition to her work with Don Neuen, she has studied with Simon Carrington, and participated in an intensive study of Dalcroze Eurythmics at the Marta Sanchez Training Center, Carnegie Mellon University.
An advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration in the arts, alternative venues, and new commissions, Dr. Kelly recently premiered a major work by Gabriela Lena Frank as part of a year-long residency to explore creative process across disciplines, and Hasu Patel’s sitar concerto for sitar, tabla, chorus, and orchestra. She is currently developing new projects with a generous grant from The Hearst Foundations to continue commissioning composers from her book “In Her Own Words: Conversations with Composers in the United States” (UIP 2013). Dr. Kelly’s publications also include articles and reviews for Choral Journal, International Alliance for Women in Music, Kapralova Society, and encyclopedic entries for The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, and the Encyclopedia of American Women’s History. She has offered pre-concert lectures for the Allentown Symphony Orchestra, and widely presented her research in the U.S., Europe, and China. At Lafayette College, Jennifer conducts the vocal ensembles and teaches Music and Gender, Practical Conducting, and co-teaches Neuroscience of Music.
As a musical director, Dr. Kelly has worked on such shows as Chicago, Urinetown, Little Women, Pippin, Steel Pier, and others. As a professional singer, she has studied with Karen Morrow, Kari Windigstadt-White, Dorothy Warenskjold, and Eric van Hoven. She was invited to join the London Philharmonia Chorus and BBC Concert Orchestra in the performance of contemporary work St. John Passion by James MacMillan, sang the mezzo roles in Gilbert & Sullivan: Revue, and is a cabaret vocalist. Dr. Kelly has served on the Board of the International Alliance for Women in Music and the state committees of the Music Association of California Community Colleges and the American Choral Directors Association, California chapter.
Accompanist Patricia O’Connell teaches piano at Lehigh University and at home. She has been the organist and choir director at First United Church of Christ, Hellertown, for the past 22 years. She is the accompanist for the Lafayette College Concert Choir, the Bel Canto Children’s Chorus Quakertown Choir, at Lehigh University, and for the newly formed Cantatica. In addition, she is the musical director for shows at Saucon Valley School District. She has a Bachelor of Music degree from West Chester University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, both in Piano Performance. She resides in Lower Saucon with her husband, Kevin and their two sons, Michael and Ryan, who are both at Big 10 schools studying music.