Melody Eötvös was born in the Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia. She studied piano and music theory under her parent’s tutelage beginning at the age of five. At eight years old, she began learning the cello, which coincided with her first experimentations in composition. Eötvös attended the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University, studying composition with Stephen Leek and Dr. Gerardo Dirié, where she completed her bachelor of music in composition with honors. Eötvös holds a doctor of music degree (2014) from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, and a master of music degree (2008) from the Royal Academy of Music, London.
Eötvös has been awarded the APRA Professional Development Classical Award in Sydney, the 3MBS National Composers Award, Soundstream National Composer Award (2012), a winner of the Gallipoli Songs composition competition (2014), the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commission administered by the League of American Orchestras and the EarShot Foundation (world premiere: Carnegie Hall 2015), the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra International Composition Competition (2016), and the orchestral prize for the Red Note Music Festival (2017, U.S.A). She has participated in numerous festivals and workshops internationally, the most recent being a collaboration with Musica Viva Australia, the Red Room and Claire Edwardes in Sydney Australia (2013-15), the American Composers Orchestra Underwood New Music Readings (N.Y.C.), and the Aspen Music Festival and School (2015). Past teachers include Simon Bainbridge, David Dzubay, and Claude Baker.
Current commissions include a major work for the Philadelphia Orchestra, a guitar and cello work for Duo Atlas (France), and the inaugural Carol Day Commission (Western Australia Youth Orchestra). Upcoming performances include the Festival Cultural de Mayo (The Saqqara Bird) in Mexico with the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra and the Queensland Conservatorium of Music Orchestra (Ruler of the Hive, 2018). In 2019 Eötvös begins a new academic position at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music as Lecturer in Composition and Aural Skills.
In 2019, Eötvös will be a Cabrillo Festival composer in residence for her first time, joining us for the West Coast premiere of The Saqqara Bird. It will be performed on Opening Night, Friday, August 2.
