Elisabeth Melander

Senior lecturer in singing with focus on jazz, rock and contemporary genres, vocal methodology and ensemble

ELISABETH MELANDER is a senior lecturer in singing employed at the Malmö Academy of Music since 1985. As a pioneer she established the first education in Sweden in jazz and rock singing  (jazz, blues, pop, rock, soul, gospel). In addition, during a ten year period, she traveled the Nordic countries and conducted workshops, gave lectures, held courses at music colleges, aesthetic high school programs, conferences and more.

For many years she also worked as singing teacher at a renowned jazz clinic in Sweden along with several of Sweden's and Scandinavia's great jazz musicians. Over the years Elisabeth has developed a methodology for singers in the jazz and rock genre plus for improvised singing. In addition Elisabeth Melander worked as a vocal teacher at Malmö Theatre Academy. Her years as a teacher has also given her in-depth experience in voice rehabilitation.

2016 she was invited as guest professor to establish the first education in jazz singing at The Vietnam National Academy Of Music (VNAM) in Hanoi, followed 2017 as guest professor at The Conservatory of Ho Chi Minh City. Her work at VNAM, Hanoi will continue in 2019.

Elisabeth Melander is very active in her own artistic projects together with singers and musicians from different genres, but also with other forms of art as her interest in cross-artistic projects come close to her heart.

As a singer she has mainly distinguished herself in jazz, soul, gospel. Apart from concerts and tours, she has recorded several albums and participated in many jazz festivals, TV and radio programs both in Sweden and abroad. Elisabeth Melander is often engaged as guest soloist in different groups, big bands and gospel choirs. Her wide activities include composing, writing lyrics for other people's music and arranging for smaller ensembles and choirs. Elisabeth is a driven vocal coach for both individual artists and choirs.

The artistic music project "Reflections Of A Voice" with her group JazzAppear, released on different media and platforms, is highly acclaimed and attracted a lot of attention resulting in several concerts throughout Sweden. The album "Reflections Of A Voice" was awarded second runner-up in the female vocal section of the internationally acclamied - "The 40th Annual Jazz Station Awards  - The Best Jazz 2018"  

One peculiar aspect of her career is her engagement as an actress and singer at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm. Under the direction of Ingemar Bergman she acted in his production of William Shakespeare's "King Lear", which was followed by an extensive six months tour and played at the major theatres in Europe