Melanie DeMore
Our Ancestral Wings, 2020

performance, traditional Gullah sticks

Artist Bio:

Melanie DeMore is a Grammy-nominated singer/composer, choral conductor, music director, and vocal activist who believes in the power of voices raised together. In her presentations, DeMore beautifully brings her participants together through her music and commentary. DeMore facilitates vocal and stick-pounding workshops for professional choirs and community groups, as well as directing numerous choral organizations in the Bay Area. She is a featured presenter of SpeakOut! (part of the Institute for Social and Cultural Change) and was a founding member of the Grammy-nominated ensemble Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir. She became Music Director for Obeah Opera by Nicole Brooks as part of the Luminato Festival in 2019. She is a charter member of Kate Munger’s Threshold Choirs and conducts song circles with an emphasis on the voice as a vessel for healing. In her own words: “A song can hold you up when there seems to be no ground beneath you.”