μεράκι

Kellin has been engaging in music making for about 23 years. From performing vocally for a wide variety of audiences, to spending time analyzing music through the lenses of identity, social justice, and experience, to now teaching hosts of undergraduate students, their engagement in music has been diverse and substantial. They do all things with passion and creativity, which can be seen through their efforts to constantly learn and grow in their various positions.

As a theorist, Kellin enjoys analyzing works that engage with tough social or political topics. Some of their most recent work engages with themes of identity, the US political sphere, racism, universal design, and affirming teaching practices for all. They believe strongly that music theory is often a barrier to musical learning for most students; they desire to approach teaching baseline music theory as a supplement to other musical learning. In their words, "Music theory is endlessly interesting and deserves a place at every musical table, but should not be a barrier to collegiate music students, musical genres or traditions, or anyone wanting to engage with music." They currently attend Michigan State University, studying for an M.M. in Music Theory and teaching parts of the undergraduate music theory sequence. In Spring 2025, they have been asked to design their own course to teach music theory to non-majors from all over the university.

As a performer and visionary, Kellin seeks to represent a group of people who typically find themselves ostracized in the vocal performing arts. As a newly emerging tenor, they attempt to challenge gender norms in classical, choral, and popular performance and bring a new meaning to the statement "voice spectrum". The voice is a biological instrument, and as such, it changes, ebbs and flows over time, and often can become a very strong source of identity. Kellin recently made the difficult and risky choice to embrace their identity more fully through hormone replacement therapy, and was blessed to come out on the other side with a voice that not only represents them better, but also rings with a freedom that listeners call "enchanting". They look to encourage the deconstruction of gender roles associated with voice types and encourage embracing identity through singing authentically. They can be found performing with the Michigan State University Chorale and the Michigan State Recital Choir, under the batons of Dr. Sandra Snow and the many talented graduate conductors in MSU’s Choral Conducting program.

In the Fall of 2025, Kellin will be headed to a new institution to pursue their PhD in Music Theory.

Bios for publication are at the bottom of this page.