MELISSA MUÑOZ

Melissa is a dedicated trumpeter and educator based in New York City. She enjoys a career of freelancing, subbing on Broadway, and teaching in the New York Tri-State area. She has performed with Broadway Sinfonietta, New York Philharmonic, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Talea Ensemble. Melissa is an avid chamber musician and frequently performs with The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, Baroquelyn, and is a member of Riverside Brass Quintet. Melissa is a Bach/Conn-Selmer trumpet artist.

Melissa earned her Bachelor of Music degree at UT Austin and Master of Music degree at Yale School of Music, where she was awarded the John Swallow Brass Prize. She also studied at the Colburn School under the tutelage of Jim Wilt. Melissa was a fellow in the Cleveland Institute of Music's inaugural Future of Music Faculty Fellowship, a program designed to represent “a critical step forward in creating diversity within the music academy and beyond.”

Melissa has a passion for education and loves bringing out meaningful musicianship in her students. She has maintained a private lesson studio since 2017, and is on faculty at The Browning School. As an education advocate, she has mentored for the Fortissima Program, Tidewater Brass Institute, French Woods Festival, and Maestra Mentorship Program. She currently serves as Pathways and Partnerships Manager at the Kaufman Music Center, a program dedicated to increasing diversity and access in the music field by creating pathways to impactful music study beginning in elementary and middle school.