Melanie Riordan
Violinist Melanie Riordan is a unique performer and passionate educator currently based in New York City. For the last decade she has devoted her time and energy into spreading the joy of music and art through her versatile performances and strong educational efforts. A native of New Rochelle, NY, Melanie began taking violin lessons at the age of 10. Since then she has had the privilege of performing in some of the world's most prestigious concert halls and teaching hundreds of students across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. An avid advocate of contemporary classical music, she has premiered dozens of works by both emerging and established composers such as Christopher Theofanidis, David Lang, Annie Gosfield, Matthias Pintscher, and Peter Eötvös among others. She has held performance residencies at Mass MOCA, the Centre d’Arts Orford, and the Rothko Chapel and has had the privilege of performing with members of 8th Blackbird, the Bang on a Can All-stars, the Philip Glass Ensemble, and the Silk Road Ensemble as well as visionaries Rhiannon Giddens and Saul Williams. Pre-pandemic concert seasons included performances of Alban Berg’s haunting violin concerto with the Lynn Conservatory Philharmonia and her New York City debut at the Kosciusko Foundation as a winner of the Lyric Chamber Music Society’s annual chamber competition. Equally comfortable on pop/rock stages, Melanie particularly enjoyed performances with artists Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Michael Bolton, and Ledisi, and has performed folk music at the legendary Austin City Limits Music Festival. A devoted and passionate educator, Melanie is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Summer Strings Academy for Girls; an online summer festival for female-identifying string students from around the world. She was one of the first educators to launch the Houston Youth Symphony Coda Music program and has been a guest instructor for Sistemang Pilipino in Cebu City, Philippines and the Miami Music Project. All of these programs are inspired by the famed Venezuelan music education program “El Sistema,” providing free music education and instruments to underprivileged and at-risk children. She received her pedagogical training from Mimi Zweig, Brenda Brenner, Rebecca Henry and Elizabeth Zemple at Indiana University and her Suzuki Violin Method training under the guidance of Charles Krigbaum and Edmund Sprunger. She is also highly influenced by her own violin teachers, Carole Cole, Kirsten Yon, Jonathan Crow. Melanie is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree at Stony Brook University after having served as Adjunct Professor of Violin at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. Learn more about Melanie at her website HERE.
