Biography

Kelly Lenahan is an American pianist from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  She is a second year postgraduate student at the Royal College of Music, where she studies piano under John Byrne, and organ under Margaret Phillips as a Stanbridge Drake-Brockman Scholar.  Kelly received an undergraduate degree in music performance from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied under Dan Landes and Robert Marler.

As a collaborative pianist, Kelly served as a staff accompanist for Belmont and a private accompanist for Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music.  Recent collaborative recognition includes regional first prizes in the National Association of Teachers of Singing competition.  During her time in Nashville, she worked as a session musician for country artists and singer-songwriters, and toured throughout the southern United States with her bluegrass band.  An enthusiastic ballet pianist, Kelly collaborates with West London School of Dance, Pineapple, and Danceworks, and has worked with contemporary dancers at Rambert School.  She has been a soloist with the Nashville Symphony and Belmont Symphony, and has participated in masterclasses with Olga Kern, Maurice Hinson, Vadym Kholodenko, Sean Chen, and Marvin Blickenstaff.   

Additional honours were received from the National Federation of Music Clubs and the American College of Musicians’ Piano Guild, who named Kelly an International Member in 2012.  Performance highlights include appearances at the Royal Festival Hall, Grand Ole Opry, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Fishmongers’ Hall, and the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square.   Kelly’s current engagements include collaborative work with the Royal Military School of Music, as well as tours with her alt-rock band Jingo.  She will be appearing in April at the Southbank Centre for a performance of Bernstein’s MASS led by Marin Alsop.