Speaker · musician · storyteller
Insightful, entertaining talks drawing on a life in music, performance, writing and storytelling.
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Melissa combines a wide-ranging career as a performer with a lifelong interest in literature and ideas, using live violin, humour and precise storytelling to make complex subjects immediate for music lovers, business audiences and creative teams.
Her talks connect the discipline and immediacy of live performance with ideas about listening, pressure, creativity and change.
Featured talks
TEDx London Business School
A live, violin-led talk on how musicians listen — rhythm, colour, tension, release, expectation and emotion — for audiences who love music but want a richer vocabulary for hearing it.
Delivered to 600 attendees at the Royal Geographical Society, London.
TEDx Fidelity International
A talk about the comfort of certainty, the fear of change and the freedom that can come from choosing the unknown.
Private event; the recording was not released publicly.
Audience reactions
Comments from people who watched Melissa’s TEDx London Business School talk.
Wow. Brilliant! Three notes in on the violin and I was beginning to well up.
It’s educational and communicated the information effectively. I appreciate this a lot.
Love this! Such a simple message, yet it’s these basic tools which enable the pleasure and satisfaction we get from music. Thank you, Melissa.
I’m listening to every album like this now.
My life has changed since I heard Michael Jackson’s Beat It in a minor key. Thank you!
Possible themes
Practical details
Yes. Length, emphasis and examples can be adapted for the audience and format, from a concise conference contribution to a longer keynote or facilitated discussion.
Where appropriate, Melissa uses live violin to demonstrate ideas rather than merely describe them. The exact format is agreed for each engagement.
A suitable microphone, amplification for the violin where the room requires it, and presentation facilities where slides are used. Full requirements are confirmed in advance.
Yes. Melissa is based in London and considers engagements throughout the UK and internationally. Travel and logistics are included in the quotation.
