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Melissa Stylianou
Toronto-born, NYC-based jazz vocalist and member of Duchess!
About Me
Jazz vocalist, lyricist, and educator Melissa Stylianou, hailed by piano master Fred Hersch for her
“gorgeous instrument, superb musicianship, and great taste,” has garnered acclaim as both a gifted
songwriter and a bold, imaginative interpreter of wide-ranging material spanning diverse many genres,
from the Great American Songbook to Johnny Cash to Joanna Newsom. Stylianou is also one-third of
the infectious, Boswell Sisters-inspired close-harmony vocal trio Duchess, which has amassed many
mentions in year-end critics’ polls and received the 2021 & 2022 Vocal Group of the Year Award from
the Jazz Journalists Association.
In addition to her five albums as a leader and four with Duchess to date, Stylianou has documented her
close musical bond with guitar legend Gene Bertoncini and sought-after bassist Ike Sturm on the 2022
album Dream Dancing. This intimate, collaborative, highly spontaneous trio focuses on standards, with
Bertoncini’s astute nylon-string voicings and arrangements in the forefront. In addition, Stylianou is the
vocalist in Sturm’s new ensemble Heart, with an album forthcoming in 2022. She has made numerous
top festival and club appearances and toured internationally.