Kevin Kelly, Music Director

Kevin Kelly moved to the northwest Chicago suburbs in 2014, after 23 years living in Champaign-Urbana, where he served the musical community in multiple roles. In 1996, he founded a uniquely entertaining professional chamber orchestra called The Prairie Ensemble, with a mission to “make first-rate music fun, approachable and affordable.” Kevin has been honored three times by the Illinois Council of Orchestras for his work with the Ensemble. He has conducted the East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra since 1993 and continues to commute to Champaign for Sunday rehearsals. After 13 years as a classical music host at public radio station WILL-FM in Urbana, he served as host and producer of “Live and Local,” which featured interviews with, and frequent live performances by, local and visiting artists across many musical genres, plus theater and dance.

In the fall of 2015, he became Artistic Director of the Allegro Community Chorus, a program of the Palatine Park District, and served for four years as Conductor at the Lake County Núcleo of Sistema Ravinia, an outreach program of the Ravinia Festival. Kevin was Artistic Director of the Northwest Choral Society from 2018 to 2020. He was named Artistic Director of the Sing to Live Community Chorus in 2021 and Artistic Director of its successor, Voices of Hope Community Chorus, in 2023.

Kevin’s work with choirs included 17 years as choirmaster at Emmanuel Memorial Episcopal Church in Champaign. As music director of The Prairie Ensemble, he conducted collaborative performances with the University of Illinois Concert Choir and Women’s Glee Club, Amasong, the Chorus of the Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana and the Central Illinois Children’s Chorus. He previously directed the Illini Statesmen Barbershop Chorus in Champaign-Urbana and was active in musical theater for many years with the Illini Union Board and the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company.

Kevin Kelly holds bachelor’s degrees in English (essay writing) and music history and criticism from Northwestern University, and master’s degrees in orchestral and choral conducting from the University of Illinois. Post-college, he sang with several professional choral ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, The City Musick, Basically Bach, His Majesties Clerkes (now Bella Voce), the choir at Winnetka’s Christ Church and the Schola Cantorum of St. Peter’s in the Loop. He has studied conducting with Kenneth Kiesler, Paul Vermel, Victor Yampolsky, Harold Farberman, Kirk Trevor and Emil Simon.

Kevin lives in Elgin with his wife, Ayano Sakai (a scientist at Tate & Lyle Americas), and their golden tiger-tabby, Mugi.