Groupmuse for Hire

Melanie Chirignan is a flautist known for her musicality and versatility of repertoire. Her eclectic tastes have led Melanie to collaborate with many different performers and ensembles. As an orchestral player, she has performed with: New York Chamber Players Orchestra, Albany Pro Musica, Octavo Chamber Orchestra, Glens Falls Symphony Orchestra, Garden State Philharmonic, the Chelsea Symphony, Gateway Classical Music Society, S.E.M. Ensemble, and Hartt Independent Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Melanie has performed with Quintocracy, Stringwynde, jazz bass legend, Nat Reeves, traditional Irish harpist Hailey Hewitt, Philadelphia Fife and Drum Corps, guitarist Oren Fader, and the Alturas Duo. She has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Opera America, the DiMenna Center, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Tenri Cultural Center, for Composer's Voice Concert Series, Cornelia St. Cafe, the Connecticut Guitar Society, at many public library concert series’ including Troy, the Windsor Historical Society, the New Britain Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Windsor Art Center, and the Wadsworth Museum of Art, Proctors, among others. As a soloist, Melanie has been featured with the Chelsea Symphony, performing "Poem" by Charles Griffes.
Melanie believes strongly in being innovative and collaborative with music and has worked closely with many composers and has premiered new works including: Alex Ford's "Berus in the Woods" in collaboration with Electric City Puppets (thanks to a grant from the Schenectady Community Arts Council), Ralph Raymond Hays music to the story "Keller's Heart" by John Gray and illustrated by Shanon Obelenus, used by permission of paraclete press (thanks to a grant from the Schenectady Community Arts Council), Nolan Stolz (Princess Ka'iulani, released on SCI/ Parma Recordings), Masatora Goya, Sean Pallatroni, Kary Contreras Galindo, and made the world premiere recording of the Delian Suite, from a body of international composers in the Delian Society. She has recorded several works for Masatora Goya's album, Dream Of Sailing, available on ITunes and Amazon. She also recorded "Latinos Ni de Aqui Ni de Alla" on the Latin Heartbeat Orchestra album, El Regreso. She is currently recording an album of flute and guitar music by all women composers with guitarist Scott Hill. She is about to premier music to the silent film Nosferatu by Sina Kiai (thanks to the Saratoga Community Arts Grant). In December, Quintocracy will present the music of Women Composer's on the Lift Series at TSBMH thanks to a New York Women Composer's Seed Money Grant.
Originally from Hauppauge, NY, Melanie Chirignan earned her bachelor’s in Music Performance and Music Education graduating magna cum laude from SUNY Fredonia and her master’s degree in Flute Performance at the Hartt School. She has taught general music, chorus, and orchestra, and has taught every level from elementary school to conservatory level students and was adjunct faculty at the College of Saint Rose. With Alturas Duo, Melanie has taught workshops on the "Origins of South American Folk Music" through Hartford Performs. She is currently freelancing and teaching privately. Members of Quintocracy are artists in residence at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. Quintocracy offers workshops for schools through BOCES.

Cellist James Jaffe has a special love for chamber music. He has performed at the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute in Manhattan, in Switzerland and France on concert tours, at Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, at dive bars in Canada, on top of Aspen Mountain, and once for stranded traffic during a January mudslide on Highway 299. His chamber music performances have been streamed live from the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and broadcast on Cleveland’s WCLV 104.9, Virginia’s WVTF 89.1, and San Francisco’s KDFC 90.3. He has also performed over 120 Groupmuses to date, including a sold-out performance of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden at San Francisco’s first Massivemuse.

Recognizing the immediate need for musical connections during the pandemic, James participated in quarantine-era projects with many longtime friends and collaborators: livestreams with the Sierra Quartet, violinist Mélanie Clapiès, and visual artist Peggy Gyulai; hybrid events with Classical Revolution and the Trinity Alps Chamber Music Festival; live outdoor performances with Concerts in the Park; and new video projects with One Found Sound.

Aside from his role as performer, James serves as Artistic Director of Festival Rolland, a summer chamber music festival in Burgundy, France. He has also taught chamber music at the Northern Lights Chamber Music Institute, the Crowden School, and Baldwin Wallace University.

James spent summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival, Music@Menlo, and the Banff Centre. His chamber music mentors include members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Takács, Tokyo, Vermeer, Emerson, Brentano, and Kronos quartets.

Dara Hankins is a bold, innovative artist with a social conscience. She believes in promoting equity through music and is an advocate for social justice. She has performed nationally and internationally with renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Bell, Kirk Whalum Lalah Hathaway and many others. Dara is active as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. She welcomes collaboration with artists from diverse disciplines.

Ms. Hankins earned her Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree from Manhattan School Of Music in New York City.

Dara currently resides in New York City.

Stephanie Ray is a creative entrepreneur, flutist, and curator of musical projects based in Baltimore City. Stephanie is a founding member of Pique Collective, an experimental quintet that explores original compositions, improvisation, and modern performance practices through unique collaborations and integrations with local makers, spaces, and artists. She is a core member of Baltimore’s musical arts cooperative and modular chamber orchestra, Mind on Fire, through which she has shared the stage with local artists such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Dan Deacon, Jamal Moore, Liz Downing, and Infinity Knives.
Stephanie is the co-founder, co-owner, and CEO of Baltimore Music Box, LLC; a digital audio workspace and music equipment lending library in the new Center for Community, Arts, Education, and Training, Baltimore Unity Hall. Since 2011, Stephanie has co-directed hundreds of free concerts with the Baltimore chapter of Classical Revolution including featured shows on WTMD Radio, and collaborating with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Alash Ensemble, Baltimore Boom Bap Society, Shodekeh, Eze Jackson, Jasmine Pope, Outcalls, and many other independent artists throughout the city. In 2021, Stephanie began co-organizing a free summer concert series in her community and surrounding neighborhoods called Arts in the Parks, featuring local performing groups in public spaces that have been traditionally redlined.
Stephanie enjoys a busy freelance schedule, regularly performing with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, National Cathedral Choral Society, Post Classical Ensemble, and the Maryland Lyric Opera. As a recording artist, she has worked with artists Dan Deacon, Loris, Bobby Ge, Ledah Finck, Tim Holt, and Brittany J. Green, and has recorded video game projects with Oxide Games. Stephanie holds degrees in flute performance from the University of Texas at Austin and Peabody Conservatory. Outside of musical life, Stephanie enjoys traveling, playing video games (Genshin Impact!), and being an active board member of her community association.