About
Melanie Schattschneider Keller is Principal Flutist of the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Napa Valley and has served as Principal Flute with the St. Peter’s Chamber Orchestra and Nova Vista Symphony. She has also performed as Principal Flutist with the Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Solano Symphonies, the Benecia Ballet Orchestra, Symphony of the Redwoods and the Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra. In addition, Mrs. Keller has enjoyed performing with the Boise Philharmonic and the Santa Rosa, Monterey, Fremont, Merced and Marin Symphonies, the North Bay Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Lyric Opera, the Santa Cruz Ballet Theatre Orchestra, and Broadway by the Bay.
Mrs. Keller has spent recent summers performing at the Festival del Sole, Mendocino Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, the Texas Music Festival and the Las Vegas Music Festival. From 1999-2002, Mrs. Keller enjoyed performing in some of the world’s greatest concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall and New York’s Avery Fisher Hall with the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra (conducted by Leon Botstein) and the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra (conducted by Kurt Masur, Yoav Talmi and Carlos Kalmar). During the 2000/2001 season of the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, Mrs. Keller was the only U.S. American woodwind player serving as a member of the ensemble.
She has twice been a featured soloist with the Vallejo Symphony Orchestra and once with the St. Peter’s Chamber Orchestra. In her VSO performance of Gabriel Faure’s Fantaisie in April 2013, “Keller wowed the audience with the beautiful sound of her instrument, mastering its high-speed runs and extended trills and landing consistently and precisely on tempo.” (Benecia Herald) The recording of this performance was aired on San Francisco classical music station KDFC (90.3FM) “Bay Area Mix” in 2014 and Vallejo radio station KZCT (89.5FM) in 2013.
Mrs. Keller is a founding member of The Avenue Winds, a Bay-Area based woodwind quintet that maintains a special interest in performing works by living Bay Area composers (www.avenuewinds.com).
A frequent prizewinner at national flute competitions, she won 1st Place in the 2005 Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair Young Artist Competition and has been a prizewinner in several other national competitions, including the 2006 Madison Flute Festival Young Artist Competition, the 2005 Flute Society of Kentucky Young Artist Competition, the 2003 Flute Festival Mid-South Young Artist Competition and the 2003 Orchestral Audition Masterclass Competition at the Las Vegas NFA Convention. Mrs. Keller has performed at several NFA Conventions as both a Flute Masterclass Performer and a Convention Performer. She has also been honored to have been selected as a three-time semifinalist in the San Diego Flute Guild Artist Gold Competition.
She received her M.M. degree in the studio of Timothy Day at the San Francisco Conservatory and her B.M. degree in the studio of Mark Sparks at the Peabody Institute. Former teachers also include Laurie Sokoloff, Sara Nichols and Gail Cameron.
Her discography includes the soundtrack to Ballet Russes (Intrada Label), Fleeting Visions: Collaboration II (Beauport Classical) and Conversations: Keyboard and Chamber Music by John Bilotta and David Gaines (Navano Records.) Mrs. Keller has enjoyed teaching flute at several schools in the Bay Area including Bridgepoint Music (Menlo Park), Notre Dame Elementary (Belmont, CA) and the Myriad Music School (San Mateo). She was also a flute instructor at St. Matthew Catholic School in San Mateo for 13 years.
When not playing her flute, Ms. Keller loves spending time with her husband Blaise and her sons, Owen & Jacob.