Melina Anne Murray was born on the 12th of June 1994 in Stamford, Connecticut, USA. She began playing violin at the age of 7 and studied with Brett Deubner, Andre Gustus and Allan Schiller. She began playing the mandolin at the age of 10 and studied with Gabriel Nevola and Barry Mitterhof. She was a member of the Bloomfield Mandolin Orchestra and performed the Vivaldi Mandolin Concerto in C Major as a soloist when she was 12. She moved to Switzerland in 2009 where she continued her study of the violin with Francoise Zoldy in Basel. There she was a member of the Basel Youth Symphony and the Preisträger Orchestra.
She went on to study violin at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) with Ulrich Gröner and Alexander Sitkovetsky, where she received her Bachelor in Music, Master in Music Pedagogy, and Master of Music Performance. She also studied baroque violin with Monika Baer. Her Bachelor and Master projects focused on American classical and folk music as well as French Impressionism. During her studies she was a member of the Swiss Youth Symphony Orchestra, OpernHausen opera projects, the ZHdK Orchestra and the ZHdK String Orchestra. She has participated in masterclasses with John Holloway, Jacqueline Ross, and Esther Hoppe.
Melina is a private teacher of both violin and mandolin in the city of Zürich. Her class consists students of all ages and levels, and a mandolin ensemble.
Melina is also active in the Swiss country music scene and plays violin as well as mandolin in the country band Full Moon Rodeo. She plays mandolin and violin with the folk artist Julie Fox.
In 2023 Melina recorded the mandolin part for the Swiss film "Bon Schuur Ticino".
