BIOGRAPHY

Greek American musician Stefanos Melas, PhD has extensive and varied experience as a violinist, arts educator and digital music programmer. He made his professional debut at age seventeen, performing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. Stefanos has since made solo appearances at numerous venues across the United States, including Carnegie Hall. He has won prizes at multiple competitions and also performed throughout Australia and Italy. 

Stefanos attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received the Presidential Merit Award. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Chicago College of Performing Arts and a Master of Music degree from New York University as a Steinberg Scholarship recipient. He later obtained the Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on a Presidential Scholarship. His collegiate teachers were Shmuel Ashkenasi, Alexander Barantschik, Robert Chen and Naoko Tanaka.

Stefanos earned a PhD in Music Performance from The University of Queensland in Australia on a full scholarship sponsored by the Australian Government. His thesis on Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade after Plato's Symposium included the participation of Jamie Bernstein, Glenn Dicterow and Midori. Stefanos also had the opportunity to study the Serenade with Midori in Los Angeles. His research was accompanied by a performance of the work with The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in the Vice-Chancellor's Concert Series.

Stefanos has also studied under Masao Kawasaki at the Aspen Music Festival. Adept at diverse musical styles and genres, he has performed in concerts with internationally acclaimed artists such as Bruce Springsteen and The Eagles. As an educator he has taught extensively in New York City, including through the Research Foundation of CUNY. He has additionally served on the adjunct violin faculty at The University of Queensland and NYU.

Passionate about the intersection of music, technology and media within the digital space, Stefanos serves as the Classical/Jazz Music Content Specialist as a member of Cognizant's Music Programming team in New York City supporting YouTube Music. He is based in Manhattan.