Melissa, Violin
Melissa Hamilton is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where she received both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Viola Performance. She is originally from Tucson and is proud to have grown up as a string player in Tucson Junior Strings, Chamber Music in the Mountains (the TJS summer camp affectionately known as “CMIM”), and the Tucson Philharmonia Youth Orchestra! Melissa studied violin and viola in Tucson as a private student of Dennis Bourret. Mrs. Hamilton has taught in a wide variety of settings, including community music schools, public and private school orchestra classrooms, a private home studio, and as adjunct viola instructor at Western Washington University, where she was also violist of the Pacific String Quartet, WWU’s faculty quartet-in-residence. She is a veteran chamber musician with many Quartet, WWU’s faculty quartet-in-residence. She is a veteran chamber musician with many years of experience coaching young chamber ensembles. Melissa currently performs as violist with the Tucson Symphony, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, and as longtime collaborator with violinist Anna Gendler and her husband, pianist Alexander Tentser. She also enjoys playing violin with her church worship team and for musical theater shows, and has recently taken up the study of Scottish fiddling. Mrs. Hamilton is married to her wonderful husband Dale, and is the proud mom of daughter Hannah, a 2017 graduate of Pusch Ridge Christian Academy.
