Salina Symphony’s guest conductor Mélisse Brunet’s musical journey began after she saw a small jazz quartet perform when she was a child.

She wanted to play the drums while growing up in Paris but her parents bought her a cello instead. Since then Mélisse Brunet has been keeping the beat as her busy career has kept her on the move.

Back in 2010 the French native landed in Ohio to merit a diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music, next to Ann Arbor, Michigan to earn her doctorate, she then spent five years teaching at Appalachian State in North Carolina.

The second of five participants in the “Pass the Baton” music director search tells KSAL News that the talented musicians in Salina will transport the audience to a carefree Sunday at the Stiefel.

 

Brunet is currently the director of orchestral activities at the University of Iowa-School of Music and also the music director of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, an orchestra of freelance musicians from the NYC and Philadelphia areas.

The Salina Symphony concert features Brunet as conductor, Janie Brokenicky, soprano and Rev. Dr. Allen Smith as the narrator. Give Birth To The Dream is November 7 at 4pm at the Stiefel Theatre, 151 S. Santa Fe.