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[The Gonzales Cantata] is honestly, probably the coolest thing you've ever seen on this show. I know. I'm totally freaking out about it ... I spent all day obsessing about this, and watching clips of it online, and listening to the music, and I have to tell you, in my opinion, it is both great and kind of moving ... this is so cool, I could not contain myself.
— Rachel Maddow, The Rachel Maddow Show
Acclaimed composer Melissa Dunphy visited Kennewick High School's choirs while in town for Mid-Columbia Mastersingers' weekend of concerts.
— Kennewick School District
Dunphy dijo en un comunicado que está "profundamente comprometida a llevar las voces de las minorías al escenario, ya sea contando sus historias o contando historias desde su perspectiva".
— El Pregonero
American Dreamers shares the stories of five young immigrants from around the world who risked their lives for a better life. Her ultimate goal is to help heal the divide within our country and give hope to those who feel they don’t belong.
— YakTriNews KAPP-KVEW
“The experiences in this piece feel familiar to me because I’ve been hearing about them and living them my whole life,” she said.
— Tri-City Herald
Front Page Quote
— News Organization
Dunphy draped the traditional modal plainchant in close harmonies and chromatic colorations, making it both old-fashioned and new-fangled in a deliciously Cappella Romana sort of way. I always look forward to Dunphy’s contributions to Resonance concerts, and this one delivered magnificently.
— Oregon Arts Watch
Dunphy chose five epitaphs from Australian and New Zealand graves (“How much of love and light and joy/is buried with our darling boy”), framed by verses by an Australian veteran, Leon Geliert, and filled with the sounds of the swelling surf. The result, commissioned by Dorsey and Sondra Ellis, is complex but accessible, heartbreaking and harmonically rich.
— St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Matt and Melissa have created a podcast called The Boghouse, in which they recount, in a richly informative and, at times, highly amusing way, their story of buying the building at 103 Callowhill Street, discovering the privy, and reconnecting with American history through objects made and used when America was in its infancy.
— Hidden City Philadelphia
One of the highlights of my attending the 2019 National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Kansas City was encountering Melissa Dunphy during the Composer Fair at the end of the first full day of the conference. Dunphy was full of energy and passionate about what she does and was also incredibly articulate—an ideal candidate for a NewMusicBox Cover!
— New Music Box
Melissa Dunphy's mission as a composer is just as much political as it is artistic.
— New Music Box
Composer Melissa Dunphy is particularly savvy about promoting her music. "I think of my compositions like they’re my children and I want my child to succeed."
— New Music Box
"Fully half the concert was devoted to a new cantata by Melissa Dunphy based on the prose and poetry of immigrant Americans, all undocumented and brought to the United States as children. All are Dreamers. All are stateless. Whatever our political views on the subject, this is an issue that screams for a resolution. This concert was a plea for understanding."
— KC Arts Beat
"[Melissa] Dunphy’s works are always among the emotional and musical high points of Resonance’s concerts, and this two-movement composition was one of the triggers [Resonance Artistic Director Katherine] FitzGibbon warned us about."
— Oregon Arts Watch
"Melissa Dunphy’s subtle sound design greatly enhances the production."
— WHYY
Speaking of both the theatre building and her career, [Dunphy] says, “You take a chance and go where your passions lead and, suddenly, you’re living an adventure.”
— West Chester University Magazine
Melissa and Matt Dunphy's kitchen is filled with historical artifacts, including ceramics and glass, dating back to the time of the Revolutionary War. Melissa and Matt found them right underneath their property in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia.
— ABC Localish
Melissa and Matt Dunphy's kitchen is filled with historical artifacts, including ceramics and glass, dating back to the time of the Revolutionary War. Melissa and Matt found them right underneath their property in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia.
— ABC Localish
"It’s very inspiring and powerful, and it gives us an opportunity to share the stories of these five people,” [Matthew] Creek said. “It’s an opportunity to bring awareness and inspire hope that this country is a home for everyone and that immigrants are welcome.”
— Indiana Daily Student
"[Melissa Dunphy's] work had life and energy and feisty passion, and I wanted to program it all! Besides being an award-winning composer, Melissa herself is an amazing soul, and is the embodiment of the creative artist I want my students to know exists as a role model.
— Choral Net
You never know what you’re going to find in the privy. That’s what Melissa and Matt Dunphy discovered in 2016 after they bought the former Grasso’s Magic Theatre in Old City with plans to transform it into an arts venue.
— Philadelphia Magazine
Dunphy’s music flowed gracefully from sorrow to joy to terror, hints of the U.S. national anthem (that iconic descending trumpet call) turning sour and grief-stricken. Whenever the music was not itself outright provocative, it was transparent to let the text’s poignancy come through and do the challenging.
— Oregon Arts Watch
SLCC composer-in-residence Melissa Dunphy concluded her term with this concert and the world premiere of “Suite Remembrance.” [...] The result is engaging, ranging from the melancholy to the sprightly
— St Louis Post-Dispatch
[Hervararkvida]’s stunning instrumentation gives voice to a journey unlike any other. The mezzo-soprano sings the gender-bending role of Hervor/Hervarth, accompanied by a Hardanger fiddle-style violin part and a harp part that extends the instrument from sounds reminiscent of a bardic lyre to frightening spectral noises created by all manner of extended technique...
— WOSU Public Media
Though only around five minutes in length, Scallops and Bollocks for Tea from Australian Melissa Dunphy was the most fascinating piece on the program. It combines musical history, virtuosic writing for the violin soloist (Alex Granger), and aspects of video game lore.
— San Francisco Classical Voice
"It's heartbreaking and infuriating and frustrating to me as an Australian who feels like there has to be an easier answer."
— The Australian
