Melinda O'Neal

O'Neal designed and taught courses at Dartmouth in conducting, music theory, text and music, and music literature. She has advised conducting students preparing honors theses, recitals, senior fellowships, and presidential scholar projects. In 1986 she initiated the Music Department's term-long study program in London, UK, leading it four times.

O'Neal led the Handel Society, a student-community oratorio ensemble performing two-to-three choral-orchestral concerts annually with distinguished guest vocal artists and the Hanover Chamber Orchestra. Under O'Neal's leadership (1979-2004), repertoire included Berlioz's Roméo et Juliette and L'Enfance du Christ, John Adams' Harmonium, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem and Hodie, Charles Dodge's The Staff of Aesculapius, Verdi's Requiem, and Bach's St. Matthew Passion, among others. Concertato Singers, an ensemble formed from within Handel Society, shared some of those concerts and performed in the region. By invitation of students, O'Neal led the previously student-led all-undergraduate Dartmouth Chamber Singers (1979-1996). They performed a wide span of repertoire and undertook seven international concert tours plus numerous US regional tours. Chamber Singers was known for their theatrical renaissance dinners entitled "Feast of Song." The Early Music Ensemble joined the productions for which each year Chamber Singers wrote a new dramatic script set in a different nationality. In the early 1990's Chamber Singers offered a series of concerts with period instrument orchestra.

In 2004, O'Neal became artistic director & conductor of the Handel Choir of Baltimore, a community-professional oratorio ensemble and period instrument orchestra in Baltimore, MD. Collaborations included concerts with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Bach Sinfonia, American Opera Theatre, Pro Musica Rara, and Peabody Early Music and Baroque Band. The Baltimore Sun noted, "Melinda O'Neal has steadily and rapidly honed this ensemble into quite a potent chorus... It was a thoughtfully constructed, entertaining program delivered with an informed sense of historic style."

O'Neal studied score preparation, choral literature, and conducting with Julius Herford, Jan Harrington, Fiora Contino, Helmuth Rilling, Robert Shaw, Marcel Couraud, John Nelson, and Thomas Dunn. She has also taught and conducted at Indiana University-Bloomington, University of Georgia, Towson University (MD), and Texas Woman's University and was chorusmaster for productions by the Seattle Symphony (WA), New Hampshire Symphony, and Monadnock Music Festival (NH).

Experiencing Berlioz: A Listener's Companion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) represents a culmination of her performances and research. Heartfelt thanks are extended to the many Dartmouth students, community and professional singers and instrumentalists who performed Berlioz works during her years at Dartmouth.