Melissa Dunphy (Sound Designer)
Melissa is an award-winning composer who specializes in political, vocal, and theatrical music. She first came to national attention when her large-scale work the Gonzales Cantata was featured in various press outlets including The Wall Street Journal and on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, where Maddow described it as “honestly, probably the coolest thing you've ever seen on this show.” Other notable compositions include the song cycle Tesla's Pigeon, which won first place in the NATS Art Song Composition Award, and the choral work What do you think I fought for at Omaha Beach? which won the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Competition and has been performed around the country by ensembles such as Chanticleer and Cantus.
Dunphy has been composer-in-residence for the Immaculata Symphony Orchestra, Volti, and the St. Louis Chamber Chorus. She composes frequently for Philadelphia-area theaters including People’s Light, Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, and Gas and Electric Arts, and is the Director of Music Composition for the National Puppetry Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. Dunphy is also an accomplished performer, appearing most recently as Puck in Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre's A Midsummer Night's Dream, as a vocalist and electric mandola player with Applied Mechanics’ The Bandits (supporting Nadia Tolokonnikova of Pussy Riot), and as solo amplified violist in the Opera Philadelphia/Bearded Ladies Cabaret co-production ANDY: A Popera. Dunphy has a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.M. from West Chester University. She and her husband Matt are currently developing a new performance venue, the Hannah Callowhill Stage, which they hope to open in 2019. More information at www.melissadunphy.com