Melinda O'Neal
Artistic Director & Conductor
Conductor Melinda O'Neal has been praised for her “lucid and musical understanding of the score”, “moving and satisfying interpretations” and her “stylish and clear manner on the podium” by Hugh Macdonald, Berlioz scholar and music critic. The 2004-2005 season marked her debut as artistic director & conductor of the Handel Choir of Baltimore.
Under O’Neal’s leadership, the Handel Choir has become a newly reconfigured community oratorio ensemble of 46 voices presenting baroque and classic style works of Handel, Bach, Mozart and Haydn with a period instrument orchestra, among other projects. In addition to her work with the Handel Choir, O’Neal is co-founder and conductor of Sonique, Boston Vocal Artists’ ten-voice professional chamber ensemble, and professor of music at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH).
From 1979-2004 O’Neal was music director and conductor of the Handel Society of Dartmouth College, a student-community oratorio society performing choral and choral-orchestral works with guest vocal artists and the professional Hanover Chamber Orchestra. Under O’Neal’s 25-year leadership, the Handel Society performed two-to-three major choral-orchestral works each year, including Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette, John Adams’ Harmonium, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, to name a few. The ensemble concertized in Austria and Germany, performed a portion of Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ in Carnegie Hall and toured to Toronto, Canada. Projects of special and recent interest include presentation of Berlioz’s rarely heard individual songs and choruses such as Vox Populi, and in partnership with the Dartmouth Medical School, the commission and première of The Staff of Aesculapius by Charles Dodge.
O’Neal holds masters and doctoral degrees in choral-orchestral conducting from Indiana University in Bloomington and a bachelors in music education from Florida State University in Tallahassee. She studied score preparation, choral literature and conducting with Julius Herford, Jan Harrington, Fiora Contino, Helmuth Rilling, Robert Shaw, Marcel Couraud, John Nelson and Thomas Dunn. At Dartmouth College O’Neal teaches courses in conducting, studies in music and text, and music theory. Her continuing research and performance interests include the relationship of text and music, historical performance practices, and the music of Hector Berlioz. O’Neal is a past board member of the Conductors Guild and serves on the research and publications committee of the American Choral Directors Association.
Additional biographical information
More information at www.melindaoneal.net
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