Violinist Melissa Stewart Hernández completed both her Master’s of Music degree and the Advanced Music Studies Performance Certificate under the mentorship of Andrés Cárdenes at Carnegie Mellon University. While at Carnegie Mellon, Ms. Hernández performed with the CMU Baroque Ensemble, placing third in its annual competition with her piano trio, and the CMU Contemporary Ensemble, with whom she soloed in David Stock’s The Philosopher’s Stone. As a member of the CMU Philharmonic, Ms. Hernández worked with such prestigious conductors as Andrés Cárdenes, Guy Bordo, Carl Topilow, David Effron, Gerard Schwartz and Manfred Honeck. Ms. Hernández began lessons at the age of 6 in Minneapolis, studying with Ellen Kim and members of the Minnesota Orchestra, including her mother. She earned her BA at Hillsdale College where she performed numerous recitals both as soloist and chamber musician, in addition to winning the Concerto Competition and soloing with the Hillsdale College Orchestra twice.

 

Ms. Hernández’ international and festival performances include the International Academy of Music Pilsen, a tour through Great Britain, MasterWorks Festival, Castleton Festival under the directorship of Lorin Maazel, and Pittsburgh Festival Opera. In January of 2014,  she formed the Lyra Duo with Luis Hernández and won the Pittsburgh Concert Society competition that March. Since then, their numerous performances include recitals in Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Michigan, New Jersey, and the Dominican Republic. Ms. Hernández has received additional instruction from Stephen Shipps, Leoš Cepický and Jiri Žigmund of the Wihan Quartet, Ivan Fišer, and Ivan Strauss. She has performed in Master Class for Arturo Delmoni, Ian Hobson, Kyoko Hashimoto, Milan Vitek, William van der Sloot, and Andrew Fouts. Ms. Hernández resides with her husband in Pittsburgh, where she teaches, free-lances, and is a member of the Erie Philharmonic.