Quick Links
Melissa Mackey
Associate Professor
216 OBF
mackey@siu.edu
618-453-5801
Melissa Mackey began playing bassoon at the age of 14, after briefly studying flute and piano. Since then she has received a Diploma from Juilliard Pre-College Division, a Bachelor of Music from Manhattan School of Music, and a Master of Music from Yale School of Music. Her Doctor of Musical Arts degree is from the University of Southern California with minors in Tonal Analysis, Music History, and Early Music. Her major teachers include Stephen Maxym, former principal bassoonist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Frank Morelli, member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Her chamber music coaches have included Ransom Wilson, Keith Wilson, David Krakauer, and Charles Russo. Her period instrument studies have been with Charlie Koster, Domenic Teresi and James Tyler. She has performed with the Evansville Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, Blue Lake Opera Orchestra, Norwalk Symphony, Bermuda Philharmonic, Mladi Chamber Orchestra, and the Uncommon Time Woodwind Quintet. She has performed in such diverse venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Zipper Hall, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, the Queensland Conservatory in Brisbane, Australia and the U.S. Post Office in Hamden, Connecticut. Dr. Mackey has attended the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival, the Sarasota Music Festival, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute and the Hot Springs Music Festival. She has performed in masterclasses for Chris Millard, Nancy Goeres, Harold Goltzer, Leonard Sharrow, Richard Svoboda and Steve Dibner.
In addition to working with college students, Dr. Mackey also enjoys working with younger musicians. She has taught at Kinhaven Music School, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, and currently at New England Music Camp. (www.nemusiccamp.com) She has also served on the faculties of the Orange County High School of the Arts and Norwalk Youth Symphony.
In Fall 2003, Dr. Mackey joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale as Assistant Professor of Bassoon and Music History. With two other members of the SIUC faculty, she formed the trio Neoteric. Neoteric’s first album, Neoteric Plays Hoffer, is available on Albany Records and iTunes. (www.albanyrecords.com) Neoteric is the world’s only trio for bassoon, horn and cello. As such, they have given many world premieres, including works by Bernard Hoffer, John Steinmetz, and P. Kellach Waddle.
Courses
- MUS 033B: Woodwind Technique
- MUS 040D-540D: Applied Bassoon
- MUS 357B: Music History
- MUS 477: Romantic Music
