Singing Out

Holly Kelly '15

Holly Kelly 15

by Sasha Shapiro '15

If you’ve seen a play at Dickinson during the past three years, chances are you’ve seen and heard Holly Kelly ’15. Although she is a second-generation Dickinsonian, Kelly blazes her own path through her intensive study of opera and her involvement in the college's burgeoning music scene. Read more about Kelly’s passion for opera, her semester at the Eugene ONeill Theater Center, her ideal dinner date and her favorite moments on campus.

Majors:

Music (voice) and theatre & dance (theatre arts).

Clubs and organizations:

Music Society, D-Tones, Dickinson College Choir, Collegium, Mermaid Players, Department of Admissions (student intern) and Liberty Cap Society tour guide.

Favorite book:

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Favorite movie:

Amadeus.

Honors/scholarships/awards:

Dickinson Alumni Scholarship and the Trust-T Award (Amy Snow Prize nominee).

On choosing to attend Dickinson:

Dickinson is a family school for me. My parents [Patrick 81 and Jolie Malo 80], sister [Caroline Kelly Olasin '08] and brother-in-law [Michael Olasin '08] are all alumni. I resisted applying to Dickinson at first, because I didn't want to be a legacy student. But when I finally visited campus, I knew I was in the right place.

My semester off campus:

I'm currently studying at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Centers National Music Theater Institute (Waterford, Conn.).

Favorite professor:

It's a tie between [associate music professors] Lynn Helding and Amy Wlodarski. Both of these women have shown me the power of music and have instilled my passion for opera, which is something I never would have dreamed of pursuing before college. Because of their intense and structured approaches to teaching, I have discovered a true love for learning.

Favorite place on campus:

The middle of the Academic Quad on a beautiful sunny day at noon, when the bells play the alma mater.

Favorite Dining Hall food:

Quiche and French onion soup at the KOVE.

What I wanted to be when I grew up:

A forensic anthropologist.

If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, it would be

…Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Learn more

Published November 21, 2014