Biography
Based in Sydney, Australia Melissa has a very active and fulfilling career as a period flautist, recorder player, and teacher in the Australian music scene. She has been Principal flute with The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) since 2003, and has programmed and coordinated the Regional touring concerts and performances with ABO from 2011 until 2021.
Melissa is an original member of the Australian Haydn Ensemble (AHE) and a member of Notturno, an ensemble of flute, viola and guitar, performing music of the Classical and Romantic era. Notturno performs for private salon events and recitals.
In late 2019 she co-formed a historical woodwind ensemble, Notos Wind Quintet, with four colleagues from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Melissa performs and records regularly as principal flute and recorder with Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes and has performed with many groups including Ironwood, Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), Latitude 37, The Marais Project, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) and Luduvico’s Band.
Melissa's undergraduate studies were at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Howard Oberg, Michael Scott and Geoffrey Collins. She undertook post-graduate studies and at Masters level in modern flute, recorder and traverso with Marten Root, Harrie Starreveld and Walter van Hauwe at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Later on in her professional life, she took lessons with Karl Kaiser, Wilbert Hazelzet, and Lisa Besnosiuk thanks to an ABO International Baroque Study Program and an Australia Council Professional Development Grant .
Most recently in 2021, Melissa stars as soloist in the film Sacro Amor from 2021 with the Australian Haydn Ensemble performing Vivaldi's La Notte and Hasse's b minor concerto. This film was given a 4 1/2 star review by Limelight Magazine.
Her previous performances as concerto soloist, include CPE Bach's Flute Concerto in D Minor, Vivaldi's la Notte concerto, J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite no. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 and J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos numbers 4 and 5, Telemann’s Flute and Violin Concerto, Telemann's Flute and Recorder concerto, Benda’s Flute Concerto in E minor, Abel's Concerto in G, Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with harpist Marshall Macguire, Mozart's Andante for Flute and Orchestra, K. 315, Hasse flute concerto, and Grétry's Flute Concerto in C major. She has worked with directors including Ricardo Minasi, Paul Dyer, Stefano Montanari, and Kris Bezuidenhout with the ABO, Marc Destrubé, Erin Helyard, Melvyn Tan and Midori Seiler with AHE and Miranda Hutton and Graham McPhail with NZ Barok, Rachel Beesley with ARCO and Adelaide Baroque.
Melissa's most recent digital recordings appear on The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra's digital platform Brandenburg One, including solo Bach and Telemann, Mozart Flute Quartet in D and Ayres and Graces.
For AHE's digital platform AHE Player in 2021, Wooden Picket Productions filmed and recorded Sacro Amor, which features Vivaldi's La Notte concerto and Hasse flute concerto in b minor.
At Phoenix Central Park Melissa recorded Telemann solo Flute Fantasies 6 and 7, and W.Matiegka's 'Notturno' with the trio Notturno: with Karina Schmitz (viola) and Simon Martyn-Ellis (guitar).
Melissa's discography includes Gretry's Flute Concerto and 13 opera recordings with Pinchgut Opera, Beethoven Piano concertos 1 and 3 in chamber arrangements with AHE and soloist Neal Peres da Costa, The Haydn Album, featuring Haydn Symphony No. 6 in D major 'Le Matin', the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with soloist Danny Yeadon and CPE Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D major with soloist Erin Helyard.
With Australian Brandenburg Orchestra: The Romantics - Grieg/Mendelssohn/Paganini with Shunske Sato as soloist in Paganini violin concerto, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra -Brandenburg Celebrates, featuring Melissa as soloist with the Telemann flute and violin Concerto in E minor, Smorgasbord with The Marais Project including beautiful arrangements of Swedish folk tunes and a flute sonata by Roman, and touchons du bois, released in 2013. Stay tuned for a new release of an album for period flute and fortepiano in 2023!
Melissa has had 30 years experience teaching flutes and recorders, and has given workshops/lectures, private lessons and masterclasses at the Sydney Conservatorium, for the Central Coast Conservatorium, South West Music Regional Conservatorium, Elder Conservatorium Adelaide, Tamworth Regional Conservatorium, Camberwell Grammar School, MLC School, Flute Connections Studio, the Australian Flute Festival and with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Australian Haydn Ensemble and at the Albany School of Music in Auckland, New Zealand.
Melissa is lecturer in period flute at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has a busy private teaching studio in Sydney for early flute and recorder and also enjoys teaching baroque style for modern flute.
Updated October, 2022
Melissa is an original member of the Australian Haydn Ensemble (AHE) and a member of Notturno, an ensemble of flute, viola and guitar, performing music of the Classical and Romantic era. Notturno performs for private salon events and recitals.
In late 2019 she co-formed a historical woodwind ensemble, Notos Wind Quintet, with four colleagues from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Melissa performs and records regularly as principal flute and recorder with Pinchgut Opera and the Orchestra of the Antipodes and has performed with many groups including Ironwood, Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), Latitude 37, The Marais Project, The Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra (ARCO) and Luduvico’s Band.
Melissa's undergraduate studies were at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Howard Oberg, Michael Scott and Geoffrey Collins. She undertook post-graduate studies and at Masters level in modern flute, recorder and traverso with Marten Root, Harrie Starreveld and Walter van Hauwe at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Later on in her professional life, she took lessons with Karl Kaiser, Wilbert Hazelzet, and Lisa Besnosiuk thanks to an ABO International Baroque Study Program and an Australia Council Professional Development Grant .
Most recently in 2021, Melissa stars as soloist in the film Sacro Amor from 2021 with the Australian Haydn Ensemble performing Vivaldi's La Notte and Hasse's b minor concerto. This film was given a 4 1/2 star review by Limelight Magazine.
Her previous performances as concerto soloist, include CPE Bach's Flute Concerto in D Minor, Vivaldi's la Notte concerto, J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite no. 2 in B minor, BWV 1067 and J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos numbers 4 and 5, Telemann’s Flute and Violin Concerto, Telemann's Flute and Recorder concerto, Benda’s Flute Concerto in E minor, Abel's Concerto in G, Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with harpist Marshall Macguire, Mozart's Andante for Flute and Orchestra, K. 315, Hasse flute concerto, and Grétry's Flute Concerto in C major. She has worked with directors including Ricardo Minasi, Paul Dyer, Stefano Montanari, and Kris Bezuidenhout with the ABO, Marc Destrubé, Erin Helyard, Melvyn Tan and Midori Seiler with AHE and Miranda Hutton and Graham McPhail with NZ Barok, Rachel Beesley with ARCO and Adelaide Baroque.
Melissa's most recent digital recordings appear on The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra's digital platform Brandenburg One, including solo Bach and Telemann, Mozart Flute Quartet in D and Ayres and Graces.
For AHE's digital platform AHE Player in 2021, Wooden Picket Productions filmed and recorded Sacro Amor, which features Vivaldi's La Notte concerto and Hasse flute concerto in b minor.
At Phoenix Central Park Melissa recorded Telemann solo Flute Fantasies 6 and 7, and W.Matiegka's 'Notturno' with the trio Notturno: with Karina Schmitz (viola) and Simon Martyn-Ellis (guitar).
Melissa's discography includes Gretry's Flute Concerto and 13 opera recordings with Pinchgut Opera, Beethoven Piano concertos 1 and 3 in chamber arrangements with AHE and soloist Neal Peres da Costa, The Haydn Album, featuring Haydn Symphony No. 6 in D major 'Le Matin', the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major with soloist Danny Yeadon and CPE Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D major with soloist Erin Helyard.
With Australian Brandenburg Orchestra: The Romantics - Grieg/Mendelssohn/Paganini with Shunske Sato as soloist in Paganini violin concerto, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra -Brandenburg Celebrates, featuring Melissa as soloist with the Telemann flute and violin Concerto in E minor, Smorgasbord with The Marais Project including beautiful arrangements of Swedish folk tunes and a flute sonata by Roman, and touchons du bois, released in 2013. Stay tuned for a new release of an album for period flute and fortepiano in 2023!
Melissa has had 30 years experience teaching flutes and recorders, and has given workshops/lectures, private lessons and masterclasses at the Sydney Conservatorium, for the Central Coast Conservatorium, South West Music Regional Conservatorium, Elder Conservatorium Adelaide, Tamworth Regional Conservatorium, Camberwell Grammar School, MLC School, Flute Connections Studio, the Australian Flute Festival and with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, the Australian Haydn Ensemble and at the Albany School of Music in Auckland, New Zealand.
Melissa is lecturer in period flute at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and has a busy private teaching studio in Sydney for early flute and recorder and also enjoys teaching baroque style for modern flute.
Updated October, 2022
Rembrandt Live with ABO for the Sydney Festival, 2018.