Mountain Lake 2025
Keynote Speakers
Beatriz Ilari
Beatriz Ilari, PhD, is a Professor and Chair of music teaching and learning at the University of Southern California. She has conducted extensive research with infants, children and adolescents to examine the intersections between musical participation, child development, cognition and culture. A Brazilian native, Beatriz identifies with the Latin American communities of Southern California. Her research focuses largely on the musical experiences of Latino and Latin American children and their families, in the home, at schools and in communities. Beatriz is a research fellow at USC’s Brain & Creativity Institute, and collaborates regularly with colleagues from various fields in Brazil, Portugal, Spain, UK, USA, Finland, and Hong Kong. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Journal of Research in Music Education, Music & Science, Proceedings of the New York Academy of Sciences, and Psychology of Music. She is a co-editor of the “Routledge Companion to Interdisciplinary Studies in Singing – Volume 1 (Development), “Music in Early Childhood: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives and Inter-disciplinary Exchanges (Springer),” “Children’s Home Musical Experiences Across the World” (Indiana University Press), and a section editor of the “Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology-3rd edition” (OUP). A violinist by training, Beatriz spent many years in classrooms teaching early childhood and elementary music.
Loneka Wilkinson Battiste
Loneka Wilkinson Battiste is an international scholar with over 20 years of experience teaching music in school and community settings. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Education (Music Concentration) from Dillard University, a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Oklahoma, and a Ph. D. in Music Education from Louisiana State University. Her scholarly interests include culturally responsive teaching and Black musical aesthetics. Her work has been published in the Choral Journal, Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, Journal of General Music Education, Proceedings of the International Society for Music Education, and General Music: Dimensions of Practice.
She has presented several papers and sessions at local, national, and international conferences and symposia. She is also an active clinician who presents workshops on culturally responsive teaching and Black musical aesthetics. She has been a featured clinician for the Texas Music Educators Association conference in San Antonio, Texas, and was the featured mini-conference presenter for the Organization of American Kodály Educators national conference.
Dr. Battiste is dedicated to international engagement with music education. In 2019, she completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, where she studied music of the Xambá community. She has given speeches and papers in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil; João Pessoa, Paraiba, Brazil; and Crato, Ceára, Brazil. In July 2023, she shared her research on Coco da Xambá at the International Council for Traditional Music Conference in Accra, Ghana. In September 2023, she gave the closing keynote for the Brazilian Music Education Association (ABEM) national conference in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
She is a member of the Smithsonian Folkways Education Committee and serves as Higher Education Advisor for the Organization of American Kodály Educators. She previously served on the Tennessee Music Education Association Board as the Society for Music Teacher Education Representative and Research Chair. She has also served in various leadership positions in the Society for Ethnomusicology, including Co-Chair of the Education Section, Co-Chair of the Crossroads Section, and Co-Chair of the Gertrude Robinson Network of Scholars.
Before entering higher education, she was the Pre-K through 12 elementary general and choral instructor at Southern University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She served as Assistant Minister of Music at Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church for ten years and was music director for several community theater productions. In addition, she co-created and led a summer performing arts program for children in the Baton Rouge community. Loneka Wilkinson Battiste is committed to ensuring all students experience a sense of belonging at the center of school music programs.
