Watchorn Hall
208
P: 909.748.8698
E:
Melissa_Tosh@redlands.edu
B.M., California State University, Sacramento
M.A., California State University, Sacramento
D.M.A., University of Oregon
Melissa Tosh joined the faculty of the University of Redlands Conservatory of Music in 1999. She serves as chair of the vocal department and has taught courses in Voice, Opera Workshop, Vocal Pedagogy, Lyric Diction, Independent Studies, First-Year Seminars and Graduate Seminars.
Melissa has sung over thirty-five roles in opera, operetta, oratorio and musical comedy, in extended contracts with the Stadttheater Hildesheim, the Heidelberg Summer Castle Festival, and in her home state of California. She has also performed in Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland.
After a decade of living and working in Europe, Melissa returned to the States to complete her doctoral studies, and then began her second career as a university professor of music. She also enjoys adjudicating and composing. Her song cycle for flute and voice, O Blissful Loss of Self, based on ancient poetry of Chinese Buddhist Nuns, premiered in 2021 for the “She/We Can – Beyond the Woman’s Suffrage Centennial”, performed by Anima Vox.
Additional song cycles include Lover’s in the Wind - poems by Gary Amdahl, On Her Way - poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Never Told – poems by Louise Chandler Moulton, and Mark Twain: For Me and Mine. Her choral pieces include Solitary Highland Lass, My Soul Arose, Love in Wintertime, and Miraculous Universe.
Applied Voice
Vocal Pedagogy
German, French and Italian Lyric Diction and Literature
Opera Workshop
Dr. Tosh is currently Chair of Vocal Studies.
Theater der Stadt Heidelberg Schloss Spiele, 1988-1991
Stadttheater Hildesheim, 1983-1987
Guestings in Hagen, Peine, Giessen, Braunschweig, Wolfburg; Freelance tour in Germany and Switzerland, 1984-1991
Composition Award and Premiere 2021 for She/We Can – Beyond the Women’s Suffrage Centennial
Emerging Women Composers Award, Twin Cities Women's Choir, 2011
Longfellow Chorus: First Prize for Solo Vocal Art Song composition, 2007
Bel Canto Award, Belgium International Competition, 1986
Finalist San Francisco Auditions, 1982
Finalist Orange County Met Auditions
Gladys Turk Foundation Grant
Mobile Oil Grant
Civitan Special Olympics Fund Raising Award
NATS Los Angeles Chapter
Orange County Philharmonic Society