Professor
D.M., M.M., Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington
B.M.E., Florida State University, Tallahassee
Conductor Melinda O’Neal has been praised for her “lucid and musical understanding of the score” and “moving and satisfying interpretations” by Hugh Macdonald, Berlioz scholar and music critic. She is in her ninth year as artistic director & conductor of Handel Choir of Baltimore and currently teaches conducting and music theory courses at Dartmouth College.
With Handel Choir of Baltimore, an oratorio ensemble performing baroque, classical and early romantic music with period instruments and music to the present, O’Neal has collaborated with Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, American Opera Theatre and Peabody Early Music. Her performances of works with period instruments include Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Theresienmesse and Paukenmesse, Handel’s Messiah, Jephtha, Semele and Ode to the Birthday of Queen Anne, to name a few. The Baltimore Sun noted, "Melinda O'Neal has steadily and rapidly honed this ensemble into quite a potent chorus… It was a thoughtfully constructed, entertaining program delivered with an informed sense of historic style.”
O’Neal led Handel Society of Dartmouth College (1979-2004) and Dartmouth Chamber Singers (1979-1996), taught at Indiana University and University of Georgia, and has been guest conductor for Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Hanover Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Chorale, and Vermont and New Hampshire Symphony Orchestras. Her research focuses on music of Hector Berlioz and historical performance practices; she serves on the Research and Publications Committee of American Choral Directors Association.
O'Neal is currently writing Experiencing Berlioz: A Listener's Companion to be published by Scarecrow Press in 2015.
For more information, please visit her website.
Phone: (603) 646-2743
Fax: (603) 646-2551
Email Melinda O'Neal
