About Me
Melissa Stylianou appeared on the Toronto jazz scene eight years ago and quickly earned the esteem of the Canadian jazz community. In both 2002 and 2003, she was nominated Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the National Jazz Awards. She has headlined at major jazz festivals all over Canada; she has been a repeat performer at the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, the Atlantic Jazz Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia and The Brandon Jazz Festival in Manitoba. Melissa performs regularly at the country's best jazz clubs and has developed a loyal home-base audience, while her skills as a composer/lyricist have been receiving attention across Canada. In 2004, she was the recipient of a Toronto Arts Council Music Creators Grant and in 2005, Melissa was honoured to receive a Canada Council for the Arts Grant for Professional Musicians. With this grant, Melissa studied in New York with Garry Dial, Theo Bleckmann and Tom Schilling for 8 months. She continues to live and work in New York City.The Melissa Stylianou Quartet traveled across Canada headlining jazz festivals this summer to support her third album sliding down, which features many original compositions and arrangements and was released in Canada June of 2006 (Sleepin’ Bee Music, Festival Dist.). With funding from both the Ontario Arts Council and FACTOR, this new record introduces Melissa as a talented songwriter/lyricist as well as builds on her reputation as one of Canada’s finest interepreters of the jazz repertoire.Melissa’s debut album, it never entered my mind (SBM), was released in 1999 and features Richard Whiteman on piano and Artie Roth on bass. In 2001, Melissa released her second album, bachelorette* (SBM), to rave reviews. Both albums are available across Canada as well as online (jazzpromo.com & cdbaby.com) and they continue to receive airplay both locally (JazzFM, CLKN, CIUT) and nationally (CBC).National recognition has created many new opportunities for Melissa. In 2002, her original compositions were recorded for broadcast by the CBC’s JazzBeat Series and in 2004, CBC Radio invited Melissa to participate in their On Stage series at The Glenn Gould Studio. Later the same year she headlined a concert as part of The Art of Time Ensemble’s concert series, which led to another great opportunity - performing at Roy Thomspon Hall as part of the opening act for k.d. lang. This Art of Time Ensemble project continued to expand and in November 2005, Melissa was featured in their performance at the Harbourfront Centre Theatre, recorded for broadcast by CBC Radio. In May of 2006, Melissa traveled to Russia to perform this programme at the House of Music in Moscow.Touring nationally and internationally continues to be a part of Melissa’s artistic vision. While building her profile in her new home of New York City, Melissa maintains her career in Canada with concerts and club performances. In November 2006, she received a grant to undertake a promotional tour of 4 provinces (Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) in support of sliding down and she enjoyed an overwhelming response in the form of interviews and media opportunities as well as audience turnout and cd sales. Plans are underway for another tour of Eastern Canada in March 2007.Since moving to New York in November 2006, Melissa has played at jazz clubs in Brooklyn (Night and Day) and Manhattan (Cornelia St. Café, Bar Next Door), building a loyal following and working with an array of world class musicians including: Ben Monder, Steve Cardenas, Chris Lightcap, Matt Clohesy, Matt Wilson, Rodney Green and others. She recently showcased at the 2007 IAJE Conference in New York City with Jamie Reynolds – piano, Chris Lightcap - bass, and Matt Wilson – drums. With her new album garnering acclaim from around the world, Melissa is poised to take advantage of this place and time to develop her profile as an international performer.
