Kelly Soderdahl McNeilly, originally from Iowa City, is pursuing an MM in Piano Accompanying and Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music, where he holds a Graduate Award in Studio Accompanying and studies with Dr. Andrew Harley. In 2016, he received a BA in Music and Mathematics from St. Olaf College, where he studied piano with Dr. Kent McWilliams. Since then, he has served as a freelance collaborative pianist, working with undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Iowa.

Kelly enjoys a wide range of collaborative experiences. He is a violist as well as a pianist. He continued studying and performing on both piano and viola throughout his undergraduate degree program. His performing experience as a pianist, violist, and vocalist in various ensembles, and as a conductor of several large ensembles, has afforded him a canny sense of support, precision, and motion. His passion for collaboration in all of its forms specifically includes piano concerto reductions, orchestral music, small ensemble works, and instrumental duo repertoire. He also enjoys disassembling and rearranging music, especially making reductions of orchestral works for piano, or piano with another instrument.