Hello, and welcome to the page of Melanie Lawrence!!
Melanie is a 24 year old musician from Leicester, currently living in Birmingham after studying composition and viola at Birmingham Conservatoire.
Melanie has been playing the viola for almost 15 years, but discovered a flair for composition during GCSE music, when she wrote a viola concerto which the Soar Valley Symphony Orchestra asked her to play. The piece was premiered in Oadby, Leicestershire and has also been performed with Melanie as the soloist in St Lucia, Prague and Germany, as well as in and around Leicestershire.
Melanie is interested in a part-orchestral career, and since playing as principle viola in Leicestershire Schools Symphony Orchestra and Soar Valley Symphony Orchestra at school she has performed in many orchestras and ensembles, including:
Birmingham Conservatoire Sinfonia
Birmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra
Central England Ensemble
Eroica Camerata
Redditch Symphony Orchestra
Last year she performed with the Conservatoire String Repertoire Orchestra as the soloist for her composition, Into The Lake, which is for solo viola and string orchestra.
Melanie spent two years playing viola with Black Vinyl Heart, a band from Nottingham, but left when she committed to University, and they have since dispanded. She is hoping to work with the singer / songwriter Lisa de'Ville again in the near future however, and with anyone else who is interested in working with a composer or violist. She has played in bands of a wide variety of genres from metal to folk, and still looks to do so.
She now runs performing and creative arts programmes for children with communication, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Most of her work at the moment is with 5-11 year olds with autism, and she uses music and art as a way of helping children learn and exercise skills they can transfer to their school and social lives.
You can get in touch with her about any of the above via this myspace, or email - [email protected]. She has a website under construction and will post the address here when it is finished.
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Compositions
** "I LOVE Eastern Storm.. it's epic.. These songs are great.. Keep up the excellent work!" - Lisa; Vocals/Guitar/Songwriter, Black Vinyl Heart **
"keep writing/playing/composing wonderful music for us all to enjoy" - Oliver Tanner; Musician, Nottingham **
"I've really enjoyed your music, particularly Eastern Storm. Very creative and and interesting... I also like the artistic fashion you go about writing. Well done!" - Ryan Suleiman; Musician, California **
"keep writing your heart out and moving the people!" - Queen Rose; violinist/composer/arranger, New York **
"your composition is amazing" HazelAnne--; multi-instumentalist, Leicester **
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Writing/playing viola parts with BVH
**"...viola a la John Cale (but played by a rather more personable musician than the notoriously grouchy welshman) sounded great" - Banky; Newark Newspaper - http://bankys-music.livejournal.com **
"Along with Mel's constantly sympathetic violaings this was a really beautiful set" - Kevin Hewick; Factory Records **
"love the sound of the strings, adds so much to the music" - Sam and Daisy; North Suffolk brother/sister duo **
"there's a beautiful [viola] part in one of the tracks. I'm rarely that subtle when it comes to writing and it's so nice to hear people doing something different.." - Without Eyes **
