Dr. Kelsey Amber Maes is a passionate music educator, performer, and advocate for neurodiversity and accessibility in higher education. She currently serves as a Format and Curriculum Advisor in the Graduate College at Arizona State University (ASU), Oboe Instructor at Glendale Community College, adjunct faculty at Phoenix College, and faculty associate at ASU. Outside of academia, she is the International Double Reed Society (IDRS) Social Media Content Coordinator and a member of the IDRS Chamber Music Committee. Her teaching philosophy centers on creating inclusive, supportive environments that make music accessible to all learners while equipping students for success across a variety of career paths.
An active freelance oboist, Kelsey has performed with orchestras nationwide, including regular membership as the principal oboist for the Gilbert Symphony and subbing positions with the Symphony of the Southwest, West Valley Symphony, Scottsdale Philharmonic, Danville Symphony, and Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestras. She was a semifinalist and quarterfinalist in the 2023 Coltman and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions, respectively.
Kelsey is one of the recipients of the 2026 IDRS 50 for 50 Commissioning Grants, which supports the creation and premiere of new works for oboe. The work, TK_X-2 by Eduardo Orea, explores expressive and technological possibilities of the oboe in dialogue with live electronics and virtual reality, which shapes the electronic soundscape through head and gaze tracking. She is slated to perform the premiere of this piece at the 2026 IDRS Conference.
As a scholar, her article entitled “Arundo donax or Bust? Have we always used Arundo donax for double reeds?” was published in The Double Reed in June 2025. Her DMA research paper abstract was selected to be published in the Leonardo Graduate Abstracts (LGA) database, which is “an evolving international and interdisciplinary peer-review database of disseration and thesis abstracts that deal with topics at the intersections of art, science, and technology.” She has been invited via peer review to present at the 2024 and 2025 IDRS Conferences, where she shared strategies for applying aural skills concepts to the oboe, her data collected from cane quality studies using a microscope, and her research on alternative natural materials for oboe reeds. Additional professional affiliations include membership in the College Music Society and Society for Music Theory.
Outside of music, Kelsey is a self-taught digital artist – see her work under the “Designs” tab and in KMM Shop – and enjoys weekend coffee runs with her fiancée, Kat, and their three dogs, Lars, Mander, and Duncan.
Kelsey holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree, Music Theory Pedagogy Certificate, and Master of Music degree from Arizona State University, along with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She studied oboe with Martin Schuring and John Dee. Her music theory mentors include Dr. Nicholas Shea and Dr. Lindsey Reymore.
Kelsey Maes Music 