Violinist Melanie Riordan is a performer and educator based in New York City. Captivated by various styles of early music, Melanie enjoys a career focused on historically informed performance practice, regularly appearing with early music ensembles such as the Mercury Baroque Chamber Orchestra, Ars Lyrica, Seraphic Fire, and the Smithsonian Academy Orchestra.
As an advocate for contemporary music, she has premiered dozens of works by composers such as Christopher Theofanidis, David Lang, Annie Gosfield, and Matthias Pintscher among others, and has performed with members of 8th Blackbird, the Bang on a Can All-stars, the Philip Glass Ensemble, and the Silk Road Ensemble.
As an orchestral musician, she has performed in great venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Elbephilharmonie of Hamburg, and Paris Philharmonie, and under the batons of maestros Sir Simon Rattle, Ricardo Chailly, and Peter Oundjian.
A devoted educator, Melanie held the position of Adjunct Professor of Violin at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida from 2019-2021. She served on an advisory panel to create and launch the Houston Youth Symphony Coda Music program and taught at Sistemang Pilipino in Cebu City, Philippines. Both programs are inspired by the famed “El Sistema” music education model, which provides free music education to underprivileged children. Additionally, she is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Summer Strings Academy for Girls, an online summer festival for female-identifying string students. She is currently on faculty at the Lucy Moses School at the Kaufman Music Center and the Third Street Music School Settlement.
