Grammy-nominated violist Melissa Reardon is a versatile performer whose playing spans all genres of the viola literature. A First Prize Winner of the Washington International Competition, and the only violist win top prizes in consecutive HAMS International Viola Competitions, Melissa’s playing has been described as “elegant,” and “virtuosic”(Classical Voice). Melissa received the prize for “best performance of a newly commissioned piece” at HAMS in 2006 as well the Tourjee Award in 2002. Solo engagements have included performances at the Stevens Center, Kennedy Center, Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall, as soloist with Camerata Notturna and the Boston Symphony and most recently, as soloist with the East Carolina Symphony. Melissa has given recitals in North Carolina, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia and maintains a busy performing schedule as a member of the Enso String Quartet.

Melissa is also a founding member of the East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO) and a sought-after collaborative musician. She has performed with the Miami, Daedalus, Borromeo String Quartets, with members of the Guarneri, Mendelssohn, Brentano, St. Lawrence and Shanghai quartets and with the Beaux Arts Trio. In concert, Melissa has appeared in numerous festivals across the US, Europe, India and Korea. Recent festivals have included Music in the Vineyards, Chamber Music Northwest, Bridgehampton Festival, Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival and Sangat Chamber Music Festival in Mumbai, India. Melissa has also toured the US and France with Musicians from Marlboro and toured with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. In 2006, she was chosen as one of four violists internationally to participate in Chamber Music Connects the World with Gidon Kremer and Yuri Bashmet in Kronberg, Germany. Melissa holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory; her principal teachers include: Kim Kashkashian, Michael Tree, Joseph dePasquale, Karen Tuttle, Samuel Rhodes, Hsin-Yun Huang and early chamber music studies with Eugene Lehner. Since 2007 Melissa has held the position of Assistant Professor of Viola at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. She is married to the cellist Raman Ramakrishnan.