Meet our voice teachers!
Kelly Burger
B.A., M.A. in Music Education, Minor in Vocal Performance
With over 20 years of experience as a dedicated music educator, Kelly Burger has been inspiring students at New Fairfield Elementary School, where she leads a chorus of 100+ young voices. A lifelong musical theater enthusiast, Kelly brings a wealth of experience from both onstage performances and behind-the-scenes roles as a music director. Specializing in musical theater vocal training, Kelly also offers private lessons in voice, piano, and ukulele, with a strong background in classical vocal preparation. Her passion for music and education has taken her around the globe, and she is committed to helping each student reach their full potential.
Taylor Dembski
Taylor Dembski is so excited to be teaching vocal lessons with Newtown Stage Co! She studied with New York Vocal Coaching and earned her BA from the University of Alabama. Taylor has traveled throughout the East Coast and beyond with her guitar, performing at venues across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia Beach, Alabama, Georgia, and more.
In addition to her work with Newtown Stage Co, she teaches private vocal lessons from her Southbury home studio and leads music classes for little music makers at Soulshine Arts. Taylor loves musical theatre, songwriting, and performing.
Kendall Purdy
Kendall Purdy made her first professional stage appearance at 13 when her middle school was chosen to be the children’s choir in the Broadway National Tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat! She studied at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and earned her Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude) from the Boston University College of Fine Arts, receiving the Ella-Lou Dimmock Award, its highest vocal honor.
She completed her Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music and pursued further studies with the International Institute of Vocal Arts and VOICExperience Foundation. In 2007, she was the New York State Winner and a National Finalist in the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music’s Lotte Lenya Competition.
Transitioning to Broadway, Kendall starred as Maria in the 50th Anniversary World Tour of West Side Story and toured nationally in Cats as Jellylorum. Regional credits include A Wonderful Life, Music of the Night, George and Ira, and the Lincoln Center reading of Sycamore Street Kite Flying Club.
Before moving to Newtown, she served on the faculties of Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Musical Theatre College Auditions MTCA, and Western Carolina University, and was a member of Actors’ Equity Association. Kendall is thrilled to bring her passion for performing to the Newtown Community!
Stephen Purdy
Stephen Purdy is known as a pianist and conductor, voice teacher and coach and as an author of books on the musical theatre. His book Musical Theatre Song: A Comprehensive Course in Selection, Preparation and Presentation for the Modern Performer, published by Bloomsbury, was hailed as “A Major Contribution to Musical Theatre Pedagogy” by The American Journal of Drama and prompted Opera great Placido Domingo to write that “Dramatic stage singers today are more hard-pressed than ever to deliver original, truthful and personal performances with bravura. Purdy’s text contains insightful, invaluable wisdom that gives stage performers the tools and the wherewithal to do this in a way that nurtures their individuality and fosters their artistry.” His second book, Flop Musicals of the Twenty First Century was
published by Routledge. Both are available at bookstores worldwide and online.
Purdy is on Musical Theatre Voice Faculty at Westminster Choir College, formerly at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City and maintains a diverse private studio in Manhattan. His current and former students have been cast in the Broadway and touring companies of virtually every major Broadway musical of the last 20 years and are performing on theatre and concert stages worldwide. He also maintains an active schedule as a teaching artist in the United States and abroad, having delivered master classes in musical theatre singing and performance in major cultural centers throughout Europe and Asia. He is also a long time pianist and coach at the Jimmy Awards, held annually in New York City.
As a pianist and conductor Purdy has a number of Broadway and Touring Company credits, notably Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan, The Full Monty and Disney’s Tarzan. He also toured Europe with 42nd Street, A Chorus Line, and Grease (Paris). He regularly musically directs and accompanies a range of Broadway and other distinguished performers at venues throughout New York City and beyond. Stephen holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Piano Performance and a Master’s in Vocal Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College.