Laura Melton, Professor of Piano and Chair of Music Performance Studies at Bowling Green State University, has performed in Asia, Europe, South America and throughout the US. A prizewinner in several major international competitions, Melton has appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Freiburg Musikhochschulorchester in Germany, the San Francisco Chamber Players, and the International Chamber Orchestra in California. She has been featured on Südwestfunk Radio (Germany), Kol Israel, Radio Nacional de España and National Public Radio's Performance Today in celebration of the birthday of composers, John Corigliano and Samuel Adler.
Melton received rave reviews for her Naxos American Classics Series CD, Solo Piano Works of Sebastian Currier. Gramophone hails her as “an artist who can tame formidable technical beasts and bring colorful delineation to a multiplicity of moods and textures. The New York Times praises her playing as “expressive and with dexterous flair.” Additional recordings include solo piano and chamber music works by Samuel Adler for Naxos, and Currier’s violin and piano works for Albany Records with violinist, Yehonatan Berick.
Melton is an avid chamber musician and has appeared in several US summer festivals including Ravinia, Aspen, and Sarasota, as well as European festivals in Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Greece. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland, where she was a student of Nelita True; a master's degree from the University of Southern California, under John Perry; and a doctorate from Rice University, where she was a graduate fellow and teaching assistant to John Perry. As a student of Robert Levin, she spent three years in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, earning the Solistendiplom while studying at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg.
Melton’s students have won numerous competitions and awards, and have been accepted into such prestigious programs as the Curtis Institute, Juilliard, Eastman, Oberlin, Peabody and the New England Conservatory. A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and student of Michael Coonrod, Melton taught at the Interlochen Arts Camp for 12 summers. Prior to her BGSU appointment in 1999, Melton was on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California.
