Melissa Davis

Biography

Dr. Davis has served as a Worship Leader for twenty years, a minister of music for over twenty-five years in the GTA and abroad, and both a vocal instructor and choir conductor for over twelve years. She has taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Arkansas as an Instructor of Voice teaching Applied Vocal music, Music theory, Vocal Pedagogy and Music History and Appreciation. Well-versed in the subject of hybridization in music, her scholarly works include a published thesis on “Jamaican Composers in the Classical Tradition”, and she is currently working as a co-author of a book on multiculturalism in worship. As a worship leader and director of bands, she has worked in crafting crafting weekly worship services that serve multi-ethnic, multi-generational congregations. As a concert soloist and professional chorister, she has toured internationally singing in France, the United States, and throughout Canada and has played lead and principal roles in various opera productions, guest soloing with several choirs and orchestras throughout North America, performing a program of Spirituals with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in 2011 and the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra in 2014-15. As a choral conductor, she has conducted many choirs and ensembles, notably a 100-member choir for CBC Radio One’s live Easter Sunrise broadcast. She has enjoyed frequent invitations to give vocal workshops and clinics for churches and schools in the GTA and abroad.

Research Interest

Worship leadership, choral conducting, vocal performance and literature, applied vocal music, vocal pedagogy.