Melanie Kjellsen

Visiting Assistant Professor

Melanie Kjellsen, horn, is the Visiting Assistant Professor of Horn at the University of Kentucky, where she teaches applied lessons, conducts the UK Horn Choir, oversees instruction of the brass instrumental methods courses, and performs as a member of the UK Faculty Brass Quintet.  

As an orchestral musician, Kjellsen has performed with the Chicago Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Omaha Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Kalamazoo Symphony, South Dakota Symphony, Virginia Symphony, and numerous regional orchestras. She has performed under the baton of famed conductors including Charles Dutoit, Riccardo Muti, JoAnn Falletta, and Gerard Schwarz. Kjellsen is a past member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, where, under the mentorship of Yo-Yo Ma, she designed and implemented a series of outreach concerts that reached numerous underserved schools and communities throughout the Chicago area.  

Kjellsen is also a past member of Axiom Brass, an award-winning Chicago-based brass quintet, with whom she toured nationally and internationally, presenting recitals and masterclasses, and commissioned and premiered 10 new works for brass. 

Previously, Kjellsen taught horn at Illinois Wesleyan University and at the People’s Music School in Chicago. For three summers, she was on faculty at the Luzerne Music Center in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, where she coached chamber music and performed on the Faculty Artist Concert Series alongside members of the Philadelphia Orchestra. For over a decade and a half, she has maintained a private studio. Her students consistently earn top placements in regional and state-level honors ensembles and have accepted offers of admission to acclaimed music programs such as the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. 

As an international artist, Kjellsen recently concertized and presented masterclasses in Corfu, Greece, giving solo and chamber performances with the University of Kentucky Faculty Brass Quintet. Other international appearances include serving as the 2018 season guest principal horn with La Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de la República Dominicana in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; a two-week concert and masterclass tour through China with Axiom Brass; and an orchestral tour with the Colburn Orchestra under the baton of Stéphane Denève at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland and the National Concert Hall in Dublin, Ireland. 

Kjellsen currently serves as the Kentucky Area Representative for the International Horn Society and is a board member for the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM). Additionally, she serves as a mentor for the International Women’s Brass Conference Mentorship Program. She has performed and adjudicated competitions at several international conferences, including the 2024 and 2025 International Horn Symposia and the 2025 International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), and is a member of over a dozen commissioning consortiums supporting the work of historically underrepresented composers. 

Kjellsen holds a Master of Music from Northwestern University, studying with Gail Williams and Jon Boen, and Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Music Education degrees from the University of Kentucky, studying with David Elliott. She performs on an instrument made by Karl Hill of Rockford, Michigan.