Press
Return to the list of articles
Composing Activism - Melissa Dunphy (Pt. II)
Elizabeth Frey Gentner of Opera Uprising Podcast
February 23, 2022
Socials for Melissa Dunphy:
Websites: www.melissadunphy.com
www.boghouse.thehannah.org
www.gonzalescantata.com
Born in Australia and raised in an immigrant family, Melissa Dunphy herself immigrated to the United States in 2003 and has since become an award winning and acclaimed composer specializing in vocal, political, and theatrical music. She first came to national attention when her large scale work the Gonzales Cantata was featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, National Review, Fox News, and on The Rachel Maddow Show. Other notable works include the song cycle Tesla's Pigeon, which won first place in the NATS Art Song Composition Award, and choral work What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach? which won the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Competition and has been performed nationally by ensembles including Chanticleer and Cantus. Dunphy is the recipient of a 2020 Opera America Discovery Grant for Alice Tierney, a new opera commission by Oberlin Conservatory set to premiere in 2023. She has been composer in residence for the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra, Volti, and the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus, and her commissions include works for VOCES8, Mendelssohn Chorus, and the Kennett Symphony. Dunphy is also a Barrymore Award nominated theater composer and is Director of Music Composition for the O'Neill National Puppetry Conference. Dunphy has a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.M. from West Chester University and is on faculty at Rutgers University. She is president of the board of directors for Young Women Composers and serves on the board of Lyric Fest. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Matt; the Dunphys are currently the owners and developers of the Hannah Callowhill Stage, a new performance venue in Old City Philadelphia which they hope to open in 2022, and cohosts of the popular podcast The Boghouse about their adventures in Philadelphia colonial archaeology.