Michigan Youth Musicianship Course

INSTRUCTOR – JOSHUA TANIS

AURAL SKILLS COORDINATOR, MUSIC THEORY & CONDUCTING

Music theorist and collaborative pianist Joshua Tanis balances a career as a performing and academic musician. He holds the Doctor of Philosophy in Music Theory and Composition from Florida State University. As a music theorist, he has held faculty positions at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and—his current position as the Aural Skills Coordinator—at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. His primary research focuses on musical and textual forms in Richard Strauss’s songs for voice and piano. As a collaborative pianist, he has worked with singers from the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Teatro alla Scala, the Houston Grand Opera, the Broadway community, and elsewhere.

INSTRUCTOR – MELISSA GREY

CEO, Executive & Artistic Director – Seven Pillars

Melissa-Kay Grey, MM, is an avid performer and teaching artist located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and of Jamaican heritage. An advocate of contemporary music, she has commissioned, recorded, and performed works for solo flute and chamber ensembles. She has collaborated with notable composers such as Grammy Award Winner Michael Daugherty, Peter Ashbourne, Frederick Isaac, and Carmen Marulanda. In addition to contemporary music, Melissa enjoys expanding her classical background by working with artists in jazz, latin, and reggae genres. Earlier this year, she recorded two songs with Grammy Nominated Producer, Mario Lawrence in Kingston Jamaica.

Melissa enjoys expanding her classical background to entrepreneurship and nonprofits including serving as CEO for Seven Pillars and Artistic Director for the Interactive Flute Retreat, an annual event in South Haven, Michigan.