Michaela Kelly

Education

Biography

Soprano, researcher, and teacher Michaela Kelly is currently Assistant Professor of Voice at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Previously, Kelly taught as lecturer at Scripps College and Chapman University in Southern California. Kelly was a recipient of the 2024 Emerging Leader Award from the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and recently served 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” was published in the May/June 2025 edition of the Journal of Singing. She will present her research in the fall of 2025 at the Pan American Vocology Association (PAVA) Conference hosted in Mexico City. Kelly was a presenter at the Cal-Western NATS Conference and poster presenter at the NATS National Conference where she shared her paper, “What Is in a Voice Lesson Anyway?” which analyzes the contents of a voice lesson through the lens of motor learning.   

A flexible and dynamic performer, 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. She 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 of Music (BM) in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, a Master of Music (MM) in Vocal Pedagogy from the New England Conservatory, and a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in Vocal Performance from the University of Southern California.