Melissa White
Violinist Melissa White is a founding member of the esteemed Harlem Quartet. She has performed around the workd on stages that range from Carnegie Hall and the White House for President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, to La Maison Symphonique de Montréal to the residence of the US Ambassador to the UK. In addition she won First Prize in the Fourth Annual Sphinx Competition. Melissa has been an acclaimed soloist with many of the nation’s leading orchestras, including the Cleveland, Detroit, Baltimore, Atlanta symphonies and the Boston Pops. In 2012, Melissa performed in the William Kapell International Piano Compeition and Festival.
Her collaboration with Yekwon Sunwoo won first prize in the Chamber Music round. In 2011 she made her South American solo debut with the Colombian Youth Philharmonic on a tour throughout Colombia. That year, she also made her hometown debut with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra. In 2012 and 2013 she joined the six-month international Hot House Tour with jazz pianist Chick Corea and vibraphonist Gary Burton. In 2013, she performed with classical pianist Misha Dicter at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She also made solo appearances with the Anchorage and Santa Fe symphonies.
Melissa graduated with a Bachelors degree in performance from the Curtis Institute of Music. She earned a Masters degree in performance and a Graduate Diploma in professional quartet studies from the New England Conservatory of Music. Her versatility as a violinist has allowed her to collaborate with distinguished artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Robert Spano, Roger Tapping, Misha Dicter, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Paquito D’Rivera, and Bruno Mars, to name a few. In 2012, she made her improvisational debut with legendary jazz bassist Stanley Clarke at the world-renowned Montreal Jazz Festival. Other recent festivals and program appearances as teacher and performer include Tanglewood Music Festival, the Brevard Summer Institute, the Hilton Head International Young Musician's Festival — a chamber music series hosted by noted pianist Christopher O'Riley. She works alongside Maxim Vengerov and Ivry Gitlis at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, and Musica Mundi International Festival.
In addition to being a violinist, Melissa is a restaurateur and enjoys practicing Bikram yoga as well as spending time with her family.