I am a pianist and teacher originally from St. Louis, Missouri.  I have appeared as soloist at Kapelle Hall in St. Petersburg and Rachmaninoff Hall in Moscow.  Most recently, I appeared as both solo recitalist and collaborative artist, with violinist Silvian Iticovici of the St. Louis Symphony, at the Ethical Society of St. Louis.  I have presented solo recitals at the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall and at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, under the auspices of the Shepley Program of Music and Art, and have appeared as soloist as the first-prize winner of the University City Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition at Washington University's Graham Chapel.

At Jordan Hall in Boston, I performed music of J.S. Bach as a winner of the New England Conservatory Honors Piano Auditions; as chamber musician in the Boston premiere of John Harbison's Variations for clarinet, violin & piano; as pianist in the Boston premiere Richard Danielpour's Sonnets to Orpheus for soprano and chamber ensemble; and as lecture-recitalist in the NEC Music Festival Reclaiming the Past, Musical Boston a Century Ago: Dvorak in America, How did his Style Change?  Further performance experience includes my appearances in two New England Conservatory Piano Department Festivals exploring the music of Schumann.

I have participated in a number of summer festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, Maine and Piano Festival Northwest in Portland, Oregon.  I have also appeared as soloist in collaboration with Dance Collective at the Tsai Performance Center.  My experience as a rehearsal pianist includes assisting Yo-Yo Ma in his preparation of the world premiere performances of both the Harbison Cello Concerto and the John Williams Cello Concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

As a dedicated teacher of young beginners and continuing piano students of all ages, I am committed to reviewing ongoing studies on learning and teaching methods.  I was invited to present a talk at the New England Conservatory Piano Pedagogy Intensive.  I also presented a solo playing demonstration for the Committee on Piano Pedagogy at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference.  While studying for my master's degree in piano performance, I completed an independent study under Jean Stackhouse, culminating in a paper titled “On Learning and Practicing: Music and the Brain”. 

I am a certified instructor of The Feldenkrais Method® Awareness Through Movement® lessons.

Melanie Almiron

B.M. and M.M. with academic honors, New England Conservatory; piano studies with Randall Hodgkinson, Russell Sherman, Aube Tzerko, and Jane Allen; chamber music studies with Seymour Lipkin and Joseph Kalichstein; master classes with Angela Hewitt and Emanuel Ax; piano pedagogy with Jean Stackhouse; Feldenkrais studies with David Zemach-Bersin at The Feldenkrais Institute of New York.