Melissa Morales

Background

About Melissa Morales

Melissa Morales is a clarinetist and educator hailing from the Greater New Orleans area currently pursuing her doctorate at the University of Maryland. She is the clarinetist for Potomac Winds, a chamber music collective based in the DMV. They have served as artists in residence in Talbot County, curated a concert series in Riverdale's Town Center Market, and has performed with the Riverdale Chamber Music Society, National Music Festival - Resonance Chamber Series. Potomac was recently invited to perform at Forum Cultural Guanajuato in Leon City, Mexico. Morales currently serves as 2nd clarinet for the Apollo Orchestra. She has performed in Symphony Center in Chicago, IL and the Kennedy Center in DC. Prior to her time in Maryland, Morales spent several years in Chicago, IL where she worked with several organizations including The People's Music School as clarinet and music theory faculty as well as project manager for Artistic Director and President Jennifer Matsuzawa, DePaul University where she served as an adjunct music education professor, and Chicago Symphonic Winds where she still works as the Director of Education. She was a regular member of the Chicago Summer Opera for their 2014-2016 seasons, and performed with the Lake Effect Clarinet Quartet in 2015. In 2014 she was one of the winners of the 2014 Monroe Symphony League’s Marjorie Stricklin Emerging Artist Competition, and was a featured artist in the Trinity Presbyterian Young Artist Performance Series in New Orleans, LA. She served as assistant editor for the International Clarinet Association’s annual conference ClarinetFest® in 2014 an 2016. Her publications can be found in their quarterly journal, The Clarinet. Morales' studied with Robert DiLutis, Julie DeRoche, Larry Combs, Wagner Campos, and Stephen Williamson.