STAFF
Staff
Melanie Klaja is the founder, CEO and Artistic Director at MEL's. She teaches private voice, piano, guitar along with group Theater, Acting, Musical Theater, Exploration Theater and Sing Like a Rockstar. She is a 2003 graduate of SUNY New Paltz's Theater Arts Program. There, she learned not only how to perform truthfully and connect outside of herself, but she improved her guitar skills and became a songwriter.
After college, she moved to NYC to pursue a career in Theater. She eventually wound up in an all-girl band called The Shells. With them, she toured the country including the boroughs of New York and upstate, LA, Nashville, Atlanta, Deleware and more. To stay afloat in the toughest city in the country, she worked in the restaurant industry and children's music and theater entertainment. It was the dawn of social media, so the band became their own managers and learned how to promote, book and organize the group's finances. This is where she gained a lot of her business experience. They released their highly acclaimed album, Written Roads, in 2010, which they produced themselves in Atlanta. Shortly after, the band broke up and Melanie moved back to Buffalo, NY to re-access her path.
She began to teach privately back home while running some well-known venues such as Woodlawn Beach Bar and EXPO Market. It wasn't until after her daughter Rylie was born and she began teaching group theater lessons at local dance studios, that she knew she wanted to open her own school. Rylie and her students have been a huge inspiration in Melanie's life. Watching them grow and explore their talents have made her realize why it is so important to keep arts alive and strong in Western NY. She couldn't have done it without them, her boyfriend and Rylie's father, Ryan Stang, family and dear friends. Along with running MEL's, she is the Director of Operations of her and Ryan's charity, Buffalo Spikes for Tykes, teaches at Performing Arts Dance Academy and Configuration School of Ballet, performs locally when she can and loves to spend time the ones closet to her. Come Grow, Explore, and Perform with Miss Melanie aka MEL, today!
Ryan James “RJ” Acanfora is a drummer, percussionist, artist and educator. He began as a self-taught drummer and through the years has gained vast and varied experience playing steadily with local/regional bands and artists. In 2013 Ryan applied and was accepted into one of the worlds most prestigious music institutions, Berklee College of Music. There he focused primarily on Performance and Music Business and graduated in 2017 having gained unparalleled experience from world-class teachers and peers. As an educator Ryan strives to facilitate creativity and artistic exploration. This is achieved through a comprehensive understanding of the techniques, rudiments, effective practice methods, critical listening skills and the musical intuitions that enable percussive articulation.
Jack Nossavage is a Trumpet player from Niagara Falls, New York. In the Fall of 2018, Jackwill be graduating from SUNY College at Buffalo State with a Bachelors in History, with a concentration in Buffalo Jazz History.
Jack has performed with many local talents, including Sabu Adeyola (protege of Charles Mingus and member of the Ahmad Jamal Trio), George Caldwell (Pianist for the Duke Ellington and Count Basie Orchestra’s), and Carol Mclaughlin (Esteemed Jamaican Studio Musician and founding member of Jamaican Ska music), as well as critically acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and native New Orleanian, Wycliffe Gordon.
Jack can be found performing at Buffalo’s Historic Colored Musicians Club, Allen St Hardware, Nietzsche’s, Mohawk Place, and many other established music venues in the WNY area.
Jack is a regular member of the George Scott Big Band, Larry Salter Soul Orchestra, Sabu Adeyola Big Band, Buffalo State Jazz Ensemble, both 4 O’Clock and 6 O’Clock Big Bands at the University at Buffalo, the Historic Colored Musicians Club Jazz Orchestra, and most recently the Buffalo Brass Machine.
My name is Victoria Mordaunt. I graduated from Villa Maria College in Music Performance. I have been teaching voice and piano lessons since 2014. I am a freelance musician who performs with several bands throughout Buffalo. I have been the lead singer of the band Joyful Noise at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Buffalo for 3 years now.
I aspire to help people accomplish there musical goals no matter their level of experience. I will help students to expand their register, project, have better control of their vocal chords, sing with more confidence among many other things.
Hannah Skoney, a Western New York native, is currently a Junior at the University at Buffalo, studying Flute Performance.
She has played flute for 11 years, and has studied with multiple renowned teachers from across New York State.
Skoney began playing professionally with the Greater Buffalo Youth Orchestra, a premier performing group of young musicians, well still attending high school at the Mount St. Mary Academy in Kenmore, New York. Additionally, Skoney placed first chair in the Niagara County Music Educator Association’s (NCMEA) All County Orchestra and the New York State School Music Educator Association’s All State Orchestra, multiple years in a row.
Skoney currently performs with the University at Buffalo’s Philharmonic Orchestra, University at Buffalo‘s Chamber Music Ensemble, and the Amherst Chamber Orchestra.
Zach Lee raised in the village of Hamburg, Zach was raised listening to everything from Alan Jackson to AC/DC, giving him a wide variety of playing style and repertoire. He took guitar lessons for several years from a teacher who really pushed him to play “outside of the box”. While attending NCCC going for Audio Production and Recording, he plays out with several bands spanning wide varieties and genres.
In summer of 2018 he got the opportunity to play a weeks worth of gigs at the world famous “Tootsies Orchid Lounge” in Downtown Nashville. He is a highly sought after guitar player in the Western New York area, being nominated for Buffalo Music Awards such as “Best Country Guitarist” and “Best Male Solo Act”.
Greg Barresi is a professional musician, teacher, and songwriter.
For a number of years he gigged extensively with the NYC roots act, The Third Wheel Band, recording two albums (On Willow Street, Family Album) both of which featured a several of his own tunes. His song “Tell You Twice” appeared in a 2011 edition of the arts publication Esopus (Esopus #15) for which the band was commissioned to write an original piece.
Over the years Greg has taught preschool music at The Village Preschool Center, Beansprouts Nursery School, Hanson Place Childhood Development Center, Gymtime Rhythm and Glues, and the Park Slope Childcare Collective in addition to numerous enrichment programs including Little Maestros, and Sign-a-Song: A Musical Introduction to Sign Language for whom he served as staff songwriter and produced the 2009 record, Get Out Your Crayons. Since relocating to Buffalo, NY in 2014 he has kept an active schedule performing solo fingerstyle guitar, teaching, and serving as Musician in Residence at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Oishei Children's Hospital.