A native of Rochester, NY, Melissa Burton has enjoyed a varied career as chamber musician, orchestral performer and teacher. She returned to New York State in 1998 after holding positions as Section Cellist of the Jacksonville Symphony and Associate Principal Cellist of the Honolulu Symphony. After graduating from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Richard Kapuscinski, Ms Burton settled in San Francisco, where she was Associate Principal Cellist of the California Symphony and performed regularly with the Women's Philharmonic, Western Opera Theatre, the San Jose Symphony, and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. She was also founding member of the Caselli Piano Trio and the Alyeska String Quartet. Ms Burton has performed at the Spoleto Festival (Italy), the Graz Festival (Austria), the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts (Canada) and the Utah Festival Opera. Currently, Ms Burton performs with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Oratorio Society (as Principal Cellist) and the Cello Divas (a cello quartet). She is on the string faculty of Eastman School of Music's Community Education Division and maintains an active private teaching studio.