Melissa Dunphy

Nationally acclaimed award-winning composer Melissa Dunphy (b. 1980 in Brisbane, Australia) has composed in a wide range of styles and mediums, but specializes in theatrical and political vocal music. Her most recent success, the song cycle Tesla's Pigeon, was recognized with a Spirit of Tesla award by the Tesla Science Foundation, and was the First Place Winner of the 2012 National Association of Teachers of Singing Art Song Composition Award. Dunphy's large-scale choral work the Gonzales Cantata has received rave press and reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, and more. Her compositions have been performed around the country by GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble Chanticleer, the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers, the St. Louis Chamber Chorus, the American Opera Theater, Anti-Social Music, Network for New Music, and at electroacoustic festivals from Miami to Minnesota. Dunphy has also received awards from ASCAP and the Lotte Lehmann Foundation, and commissions include pieces for Ensemble Epomeo, Voice of this Generation, the Kennett Symphony Orchestra and Children’s Choir, and Whitman College Chamber Singers. In addition to her concert and choral music, she has also composed frequently for Philadelphia-area theatres.

Melissa has a Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude, Pi Kappa Lambda) from West Chester University, where she was a recipient of the Harry Wilkinson Music Theory Scholarship, the Charles S. and Margherita Gangemi Memorial Scholarship for excellence in music theory and composition, and the Janice Weir Etshied '50 Scholarship for academic excellence. She is currently undertaking doctoral studies in composition at the University of Pennsylvania on a Benjamin Franklin Fellowship. Her teachers have included Robert Maggio, Larry Nelson, Van Stiefel, James Primosch, Jay Reise and Anna Weesner. More information about Melissa can be found at www.melissadunphy.com or on her music publishing website, www.mormolyke.com.