Melissa Tosh

Melissa Tosh joined the faculty of the University of Redlands Conservatory of Music in 1999. She serves as chair of the vocal department and has taught courses in voice, Opera Workshop, vocal pedagogy, lyric diction, independent studies, first-year seminars, and graduate seminars.

Tosh has sung over 35 roles in opera, operetta, oratorio, and musical comedy, in extended contracts with the Stadttheater Hildesheim, the Heidelberg Summer Castle Festival, and in her home state of California. She has also performed in Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland.

After a decade of living and working in Europe, Tosh returned to the States to complete her doctoral studies, and then began her second career as a university professor of music. She also enjoys adjudicating and composing. Her song cycle for flute and voice, O Blissful Loss of Self, based on ancient poetry of Chinese Buddhist nuns, premiered in 2021 for the "She/We Can — Beyond the Woman's Suffrage Centennial," performed by Anima Vox.

Additional song cycles include Lovers in the Wind — poems by Gary Amdahl, On Her Way — poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay, Never Told — poems by Louise Chandler Moulton, and Mark Twain: For Me and Mine. Her choral pieces include Solitary Highland Lass, My Soul Arose, Love in Wintertime, and Miraculous Universe.

• B.M., California State University, Sacramento
• M.A., California State University, Sacramento
• D.M.A., University of Oregon