Jazz singer/songwriter Melissa Stylianou has been turning heads and capturing hearts for over 20 years from her native Toronto to her adopted home of New York City, from intimate club residencies to top festival stages around the world as the leader of her own band and as a part of the close harmony group DUCHESS.
Across her five solo albums (including 2014’s No Regrets, which JazzTimes called “Smart. Seamless. Stunning.”), Melissa has maintained a focus on storytelling, whether through her original compositions and lyrics, interpreting the music of songwriters like Paul Simon, James Taylor and Bjork, or finding a unique and personal way to present oft-sung jazz standards. From top stages and clubs in NYC (Carnegie Hall, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center) to jazz festivals all over the world (Monterey, Toronto, Copenhagen, Montreal, Jerusalem), Melissa endears audiences with her heartfelt singing and intimate performance style.
Downbeat has called her a “sophisticated storyteller” and an “original,” while Grammy-nominated pianist Fred Hersch says: “Melissa has it all – a gorgeous instrument, superb musicianship and great taste.” She has been the recipient of many awards and other distinctions including multiple nods from JazzTimes and Downbeat Magazines in the Rising Star Jazz Vocalist category of the Readers and Critics Polls, and professional development and recording grants from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Throughout her career, Melissa has been a passionate educator, teaching private voice lessons and group instruction in Canada at the National Music Camp, Humber College and Mohawk College before moving to New York in 2005. From 2009 until the birth of her son in 2013, she was on faculty at 92Y and maintained a busy studio of singers from many musical backgrounds and abilities. On her own and with her 3-part harmony group DUCHESS, she runs workshops and clinics for soloists and vocal groups at colleges and conservatories wherever she is touring, and she very much enjoyed filling in for the incredible educator Darmon Meader in 2016 at the esteemed Tritone Fantasy Jazz Camp in Rochester, NY. Melissa is happy to be back in the family at the School of Music and looks forward to helping her students explore diverse repertoire and guiding each towards a more natural and joyful expression of their unique voice.