Melissa Jones is delighted to direct the Camerata Strings Ensemble with the Richmond Symphony School of Music and its Youth Orchestra Program. She received music degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Tennessee. She taught strings in Hanover County Public Schools for 16 years and is currently in her third year as current Director of Orchestras at the Collegiate School in Richmond. She has guest conducted for honors school programs in Virginia and has served as an adjudicator for statewide orchestra assessments. Ms. Jones is especially driven to explore and appreciate a diverse set of music styles and genres as applied to our orchestral instruments.
Ms. Jones maintains a private studio of violin and viola students and is an active musician in the Richmond scene. She has participated in many album recordings and has performed with local and regional orchestras on violin and viola.
Ms. Jones is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the Virginia Band and Directors Association, and the American String Teachers Association. Melissa resides in Studley, Virginia, with her husband, Aaron, and two sons, Charlie (8) and Ezekiel (27), where they enjoy spinning records, making up songs, and building epic LEGO creations.
