melissa reiner profile picture

melissa reiner

on tour in japan until june 16, 2008

About Me

Violinist Melissa Reiner consistently brings distinctive style to a wide-ranging array of multi-genre music industry performances. Classically trained since age three, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Baltimore's Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, studying with renowned teachers like Shirley Givens, Juilliard Quartet founder Earl Carlyss, and Dorothy DeLay. But it was her passion for music outside the confines of the classical world that brought her to Los Angeles in 1998, where she has since collaborated with numerous celebrity pop artists and highly regarded film composers. Highlights from her unconventional career include: performing as solo violinist for David Lee Roth in several music videos and recordings; playing at the Grammy Awards with the Backstreet Boys; serving as featured soloist in the J. Paul Getty Museum of Art's "Departures" film exhibit; and participating in two tours of Japan with the Percy Faith Orchestra. Melissa has performed on three continents with a show schedule that has taken her from Aspen to London; Taipei to Frankfurt; Milan to Tokyo; and Paris to Moscow. She has made numerous appearances on MTV, the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, and the Tonight Show with a diverse range of artists, including Destiny's Child, Train, Shaggy, and Il Divo. Other collaborators include: The Bangles, Brian McKnight, Dishwalla, *NSYNC, and Mariah Carey. She can also currently be heard on numerous albums, jingles, and films, including the acclaimed 2005 film "Pretty Persuasion," for which she served as violin consultant. . . Melissa is also a songwriter, arranger and lyricist. She has written string arrangements for singer/songwriter Joshua Radin, which were premiered on national television (Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Carson Daly Show) and has been writing and producing songs with various other artists.Please check out www.melissareiner.com for a complete listing of credits and a more comprehensive bio.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/5/2004
Band Website: melissareiner.com
Band Members: collaboration is always good.
Influences: all brahms and beethoven all the time, radiohead, shostakovich, gidon kremer, samuel barber, prokofiev, U2, bach (cello suites and goldberg variations the most), coldplay, mozart (the operas especially), muse, elgar (enigma variations and the cello concerto), stereophonics, britten (3rd string quartet!), debussy piano repertoire, massive attack, copland (especially appalachian spring), aqualung, the police, verdi and puccini operas, turin brakes, piazzolla, keane, chet baker, doves, all of my talented friends...
Sounds Like: the lovechild of bach and prokofiev on an acid trip
Record Label: none at the moment
Type of Label: None

My Blog

on the new recording...

i am probably more of a perfectionist than i should be. this is due to the fact that for many years, i believed that all classical music should be performed and recorded in a certain way, and anything...
Posted by melissa reiner on Mon, 11 Sep 2006 12:24:00 PST

new photos

i have always equated my musical career with the arrival of a train in rural france. sometimes the train is a model of efficiency and there is a modicum of available seats. sometimes the train is terr...
Posted by melissa reiner on Mon, 05 Jun 2006 02:25:00 PST

top 8 - method to the madness

if anyone who views my page actually cares about the reasoning behind my "top 8" (and i think a few of my friends do care - you know who you are), it is quite simple. in the real world, i have a ...
Posted by melissa reiner on Thu, 02 Mar 2006 10:29:00 PST

premiere and process of "pretty persuasion"

so last night i got to attend the los angeles premiere of the movie "pretty persuasion", which i worked on last summer in two capacities: i played solo violin for a scene where the main character...
Posted by melissa reiner on Mon, 01 Jan 1900 12:00:00 PST