Melanie Scholtz is a South African born, multi-award winning jazz singer and composer. She started playing the piano from the age of 5 and went on to study opera at The University of Cape Town Opera School where she graduated Cum Laude with a Performer’s Diploma in Opera in 2000. Melanie has released five successful solo albums and has been a featured artist and guest songwriter on many albums nationally and internationally. She has been a professional musician for more than 20 years and has performed all over the world including her native country, South Africa, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Her most recent performances include touring with Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra in their 2019/2020 season, with shows in New York, Chicago, South Africa and Vienna.
Melanie has been involved in the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from 2008-2014 as a performer and teacher as well as part of the mentorship program with the Artscape Youth Jazz program from 2006-2013. She also went on to teach at the University of Cape Town from 2004-2005.She has taught internationally in annual Jazz Camps in The Czech Republic, where she lived for 2 years. She currently resides in East Village, New York and is a permanent member of the vocal staff at 92Y School of Music. For the past 3 years, she has also given workshops for the 92Y Center for Arts Learning and Leadership in Visual Art, Songwriting and Music Production. She is also frequently invited by Jazz at Lincoln Centre as a featured singer/ musician giving workshops for conferences and events. Melanie is also worked for The Leadership Program, a New York based Teaching Artist DOE approved organization, for the past 3 years as a music and visual artist teaching artist, teaching across the board from Kindergarten to High School. She has also hosted workshops showcasing Music Production, Electronic Looping, Visual Art, Improvisation at CUNY, University of Pennsylvania and Smith College.