New Visiting Professor in Organ
The Royal Danish Academy of Music has appointed organist Monica Melcova as a new visiting professor. She will be joining the Academy this summer when the visiting professorship of Hans Fagius ends.
Monica Melcova will be well known to most Danish organists, as she has played concerts in Denmark quite frequently during her world concert tours of the past 20 years.
Monica Melcova was born in Slovakia, where she also received her first musical education. After that she went to Vienna and Paris, where she trained under the tutelage of prominent organ professors such as Michael Radulescu, Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard and Loïc Mallié. During her studies she won numerous awards in international competitions.
In 2002, she was appointed Organist in Residence at the Sapporo Concert Hall in Japan, where she gave master classes and played regular concerts. In 2006 she began teaching at the Gaston Litaize Conservatory in Paris, and since 2008 she has taught improvisation at the conservatory in San Sebastian and, since 2016, also in Madrid. She works intensively with improvisation in a pedagogical context, and in recent years she has also been working with improvisation for silent films.
As a concert organist, Monica Melcova has performed on several famous organs, including those of the churches of Nôtre Dame, Madeleine and Saint-Sulpice in Paris, St. Wenzel in Naumburg and Hofkirche in Dresden, and she has been a soloist with the Orchestre National de France, amongst others. She has also been a jury member at famous organ competitions in Dudelange (Luxembourg) and Chartres (France).
Through her work and teaching, Monica Melcova has demonstrated how it is possible to combine an immediate and enthusiastic musical expression with a solid technical foundation and formidable insight into historical performance practice, and at RDAM we are looking forward to being inspired by this international figure of organ playing.
