Greek American violinist Stefanos Melas has extensive experience across the music business and higher education. He has performed throughout Australia, Italy, and the United States at renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall. As an educator, he has served on the adjunct violin faculty at The University of Queensland and New York University. Stefanos is passionate about helping young musicians achieve their artistic aspirations through his work in admissions at the Yale School of Music. He was previously the Classical and Jazz Music Content Specialist for YouTube Music. In this role, he managed music programming and featured content for millions of users worldwide.

Stefanos attended the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received the Presidential Merit Award. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts and a Master of Music degree from New York University. Stefanos also obtained a Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a Presidential Scholarship recipient. He subsequently earned a PhD in Music Performance from The University of Queensland on a full scholarship sponsored by the Australian Government. His dissertation on Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade included the participation of Jamie Bernstein, Glenn Dicterow, and Midori.

Stefanos had the opportunity to study the Serenade intensively with Midori in Los Angeles and to undertake a scholarly analysis of Bernstein's original manuscript at the Library of Congress. His research was accompanied by a performance of the work with The University of Queensland Symphony Orchestra at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, as part of the Vice-Chancellor's Concert Series. His principal teachers were Shmuel Ashkenasi, Alexander Barantschik, Robert Chen, and Naoko Tanaka. Stefanos has additionally undertaken summer studies at the Aspen Music Festival under Masao Kawasaki and the Encore School for Strings with Linda Cerone. Originally from Atlanta, he currently resides in Connecticut.