Ensemble and Conducting Faculty

Education

• D.M.A., Michigan State University
• M.M., University of Oklahoma
• B.M., Houston Baptist University

Curriculum Vitae

Dr. Ryan Kelly is professor of music and associate director of choral activities at West Chester University of Pennsylvania where he directs Mastersingers, Cantari Donne, Chamber Choir, and Vocal Jazz Ensemble and teaches courses in conducting, choral music, and voice. He previously taught choral music at Kilgore College in Texas. He earned his D. M. A. in choral conducting from Michigan State University; he also has degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Houston Baptist University. He is an active lecturer and clinician with numerous appearances at national, regional, and state conferences of the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, and the American Guild of Organists. His published scholarship and music include a critical edition of Carl Fasch's Missa a 16 voci (Carus-Verlag, 2014), performance editions and compositions with Boosey & Hawkes, G. Schirmer, and Augsburg Fortress Publishers, multiple articles in Choral Journal, and two books, Calls to Worship, Invocations, and Benedictions (P&R Publishing, 2022) and Handel's Messiah: Warm-ups for Successful Performance (Hal Leonard, 2016) with co-author Jason Paulk. Also an experienced liturgist and church musician, he is director of music and organist at Proclamation Presbyterian Church in Bryn Mawr, PA. He can be reached by e-mail at rkelly@wcupa.edu, and his LinkedIn profile may be viewed here.

Dr. Kelly is a two-time finalist for The American Prize, in the 2021 Vocal Chamber Music division for his composition Friendship and the 2016 Choral Performance-University division for the album King David. In 2022, West Chester University awarded Dr. Kelly a 2022 research sabbatical and awarded him in 2016 their Spotlight on Research Award in recognition of his research on eighteenth-century composer and conductor Carl Fasch. Recent or upcoming guest conducting includes the 2025 PMEA District 11 High School Chorus, 2024 and 2023 Cantate Domino Emerging Composers Festival (PA), 2019 Baltimore County (MD) High School Chorus, 2019 West Shore District Honors Choral Festival, 2019 PMEA District 12 High School Chorus, the 2019 Adams County (PA) High School Chorus, the 2019 Schuykill County (PA) High School Chorus, the 2018 Anne Arundel County (MD) High School Chorus, the 2018 Berks County (PA) Junior High Chorus, the 2018 Anne Arundel County (MD) High School Chorus, and the Maryland 2016 Junior All-State Chorus. His choirs performed at the PMEA in-service conferences in 2024 and 2016, the NJMEA in-service conference in 2018, and the ACDA-PA fall conference in 2014. Additionally, Dr. Kelly recently presented or is scheduled to present guest sessions at:

• Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, 2023 Biennial Conference ¹⁷
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2022 District 12 In-Service Conference ¹⁶
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2022 In-Service Conference ¹⁶
• ACDA, 2022 Southern Division Conference ¹⁴
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2021 Annual In-Service Conference ¹⁴
• Pennsylvania ACDA, 2020 Panel Webinar ¹⁵
• ACDA, 2020 Southern Division Conference ¹⁴
• Maryland Music Educators Association, 2019 Annual In-Service Conference ¹³
• Illinois Music Education Association, 2019 Conference ¹²
• Orange County (NY) Music Educators Association, 2018 Annual In-Service Conference ^{4, 9, 10}
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2018 District 7 In-Service Conference ^{4, 9, 12}
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2018 In-Service Conference ¹²
• New Jersey Music Educators Association, 2018 In-Service Conference ¹²
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2017 District 12 In-Service Conference ^{9, 12}
• Pennsylvania ACDA, 2017 Summer Conference ¹²
• ACDA, 2017 National Convention ¹⁰
• AGO, Philadelphia Chapter, 2017 January Jumpstart ^{9, 11}
• Nebraska Music Educators Association, 2016 Annual Conference/Clinic ¹
• ACDA, 2016 Voices United Conference ¹⁰
• AGO, 2016 National Conference ^{1, 2}
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2016 In-Service Conference ¹
• ACDA, 2016 Southwest Division Conference ⁷
• Brandywine Singers, 2016 Pre-concert Lecture ⁸
• AGO, 2015 Southeastern PA Chapter Event ²
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2015 District 12 In-Service Conference ^{1, 9}
• Schulmerich Bells, 2015 Handbell Extravaganza ⁹
• Virginia Music Educators Association, 2014 Fall Conference ¹
• Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, 2014 District 12 In-Service Conference ⁹
• NAfME, 2014 National In-Service Conference ⁴
• ACDA, 2014 Voices United Conference ³
• ACDA, 2014 Southwest Division Conference ³
• Georgia Music Educators Association, 2014 In-Service Conference ^{3, 5}
• Florida Music Educators Association, 2014 Professional Development Conference ³
• South Carolina ACDA, 2013 Fall Conference ³
• Pennsylvania ACDA, 2013 Summer Conference ⁵
• Texas Music Educators Association, 2013 Convention ⁵
• Alabama Music Educators Association, 2013 In-Service Conference ^{5, 6}
• Louisiana ACDA, 2012 Fall Conference ⁶

¹ Masterworks Your Choir Can Perform
² Quality Repertoire for Small Choirs and Budgets
³ It's Not Just Old Music: Finding Engaging and Quality Repertoire on CPDL
⁴ Effective and Artistic Conducting: Gestures that Communicate and Elicit Musicianship (with Dr. Jason Paulk)
⁵ Conductors and Accompanists: Collaboration for Singers' Learning
⁶ Kaleidoscope for the Senses: Creating Concert Experiences that Mystify Audiences
⁷ Messiah: Warm-ups for Successful Performance
⁸ Not Bach or Mozart: The Music and Influence of Carl Fasch
⁹ Choral Reading Session
¹⁰ Beyond "Getting Ready to Sing": Creating Symbiosis between Warm-Ups and Repertoire
¹¹ Uplifting Their Spirits and Sounds: Techniques for Nurturing Volunteer Singers
¹² Avoid the Repertoire Rut: Expanding Your Knowledge of Choral Repertoire
¹³ Simple Ways to Improve Vowels, Consonants, and Foreign Diction
¹⁴ Improving the Sectional Rehearsal: Steps to Productivity, Musicality, and Unity
¹⁵ Organizing, Rehearsing, and Programming for Socially Distant Choirs
¹⁶ The Pennsylvania All-State Chorus: Its History and Repertoire since 1936
¹⁷ Choral Conducting and Communication: Full of Grace, Seasoned with Salt

Dr. Kelly's recently or soon-to-be published scholarship, recordings, compositions, and editions include:

• “Persistent as Steel: Uncovering an 80-year-old Choral Work Composed for Pennsylvanians” PMEA News (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, Winter 2023)
• Editor, Men of Steel, Russell Shenton (2023)
• Christmas Stylings for Trombone (Shaw Music, 2023)
• Vision of Paradise (In paradisum) (MorningStar Music Publishers, 2023)
• Gloria, by Joseph Haydn, ed. Kelly (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2023)
• Calls to Worship, Invocations, and Benedictions (P&R Publishing, 2022)
• Book Review, The Choral-Orchestral Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams: Autographs, Context, Discourse, Stephen Town (Lanham: Lexington Press, 2019), Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, October 2022)
• Gospel Hymn Stylings for Trombone (Shaw Music, 2022)
• Three for Three: Instrumental Hymn Trios (Shaw Music, 2022)
• A Virgin Most Blessed (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2021)
• A Brother’s Prayer (Mark Foster Music, 2020)
• “What Is Singing Like Butter?” PMEA News (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association, Winter 2020)
• Book Review, Latin Pronunciation for Singers: A Comprehensive Guide to the Classical, Italian, German, English, French, and Franco-Flemish Pronunciations of Latin, Sri Silva (Silva, 2017), Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, June/July 2019)
• Blessings Flow CD, organist (Mark Custom Recordings, 2019)
  
• In te Domine speravi (Hal Leonard, 2018)
  
• Dearly Loved, Holy and Chosen (Shaw Music, 2018)
• The Music Before Me (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2018)
• A Chesterton Carol (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2018)
• Happy We, by G. F. Handel, ed. Kelly (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2018)
• The Tempest (MusicSpoke, 2018)
• Come, Ye Disconsolate (MusicSpoke, 2018)
• My Dearest Friend (MusicSpoke, 2018)
• Prayer of St. Brigid (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2017)
• The Cauldron Dance, by Giuseppe Verdi, ed. Kelly (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 2017)
• Let Us Build Forever (Boosey & Hawkes, scheduled 2017)
• Ego sum panis vivus, by G. P. da Palestrina, ed. Kelly (G. Schirmer, 2017)
• Rejoice and Let Your Lights Appear (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2017)
• “A Guide to Improving Student-Led Section Rehearsals” with Felicia Mulé and James Robison Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, 2016)
• Handel's 'Messiah:' Warm-Ups for Successful Performance, with co-author Jason D. Paulk (Hal Leonard Corp., 2016)
• No la debemos dormir (Boosey & Hawkes, 2016)
• Two Mozart Classics, by W. A. Mozart, ed. Kelly (Boosey & Hawkes, 2016)
• Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2015)
• Honegger's 'King David' CD (Mark Custom Recordings, 2015)
• Missa a 16 voci, by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, ed. Kelly (Carus-Verlag, 2014)
• Book review, The Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet in the Choral Rehearsal, Duane Richard Karna, ed. (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2010), Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, November 2013)
• Saw You Never, in the Twilight (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2013)
• “Artistry and Equality: How the Berlin Sing-Akademie Transformed Choral Singing” Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, May 2013)
• “Unto the Lord Lift Thankful Voices” (SATB) The Augsburg Motet Book, ed. Zebulon M. Highben (Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2013)
• “Mozart’s Misericordias Domini: A Conductor’s Guide” with David Rayl Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, September 2012)
• “Important Resources for the New Teacher” Choral Journal (American Choral Directors Association, August 2012)