Every year, NOA works through personnel additions and changes on the Board of Directors and on the numerous committees. The work of these individuals keeps NOA moving forward. We have recently welcomed Cynthia Stokes (Arizona State) and Courtney Kalbacker (Augusta University) into the Editor roles for our e-zine NOA Now. Formerly NOA Notes, the e-zine received a update in 2024 with Ann Marie Wilcox-Daehn (Missouri State) and Jourdan Laine Howell (UT San Antonio) ushering in a fresh take on the publication. Howell continues her role as the Graphics and Layout Editor while Stokes and Kalbacker steer NOA Now in a new direction.

“The new editors of NOA Now invite you to check out our Summer Issue which is packed with timely articles that feature news, inspirational interviews, and updates that you will want to read NOW! Start off with this insightful interview with master pianist coach/conductor Kathleen Kelly and keep exploring! Be in the know with NOA Now!” - Courtney Kalbacker

___________________________

Enjoy this excerpt from the Summer 2026 Issue:

Coach/Conductor Corner: A Conversation with Mo. Kathleen Kelly

About Kathleen Kelly: Kathleen Kelly’s practice combines her skills as pianist, coach, conductor, writer, and advocate. During the 2025-26 season, she joined both Jamie Barton and Ryan McKinny in recitals, led the Texas premiere of Notes on Viardot for Baylor Opera Theater, and returned to the New National Theater Opera Studio in Tokyo to lead performances of Gianni Schicchi. She also introduced the groundbreaking Collaborative Piano Playbook for the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society with co-author Elvia Puccinelli.

Recent notable projects include her chapter on current industry practice for Chanda Vanderhart’s book Accompaniment in America, her acclaimed recording Force of Nature with soprano Emily Albrink, and her performance in the filmed opera Interstate. Her international performing credits include appearances at Wigmore Hall, Weill Hall, Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center, Spivey Hall, and Vienna’s Musikverein. She has been part of the musical teams at the San Francisco, Metropolitan, Houston Grand, and Vienna State Operas, and is a regular guest coach for the New National Theater Tokyo Opera Studio. Her work has been published in VAN Magazine and The Journal of Singing. She is the Director of the Vocal Studies Division at Baylor University.

The interview

Brad: Kathy, thanks for spending some time! Let’s begin by talking about coaching techniques that you feel have been especially effective.

Kathleen: The most interesting part of coaching for me is partnering with a vocalist to identify what they already do, and what steps to take from there. What is their relationship to pulse? to their ear and intonation? to language? Coaching is the process by which we develop techniques to gain skill, mastery, and ultimately maximum flexibility in rhythm, intonation, and expression.

Singers can apply that flexibility and subtlety to anything. Working in this partnered way can develop the kind of artistry in which a singer working with other musicians can bring a highly refined understanding of their relationship to the total harmony, to ensemble vowel sounds, and to pulse. An artist with real granular understanding of their role within the whole can manipulate any one of those elements in the service of expression.

I’m always blown away when I hear singers who can do this, especially with rhythm and pulse—we don’t talk enough about it in classical singing! I admire people who can sing slightly ahead of the beat to increase vitality, excitement, or tension, or slightly behind the beat to create an atmosphere of reluctance, sadness, grief, or fatigue...

(Read the full article on NOA Now.)