D’ALBORA, Melissa

Melissa D’Albora’s music explores themes of mental health and social issues, including gun violence and women’s rights. Her work *Respire* (2020) for flute and guitar reflects a search for inner peace and was supported by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant before being premiered by Duo Sequenza in 2021. *A Fantasy* (2019), commissioned by the Grammy Award–winning ensemble Seraphic Fire, addresses societal expectations placed on women. Her compositions have been performed throughout the United States and Canada.

D’Albora earned bachelor’s degrees in viola performance and composition from the University of Connecticut and later completed both a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. She currently serves as Assistant Director of the Millennium Composers Initiative’s EID program and teaches music theory at Central Michigan University.