MELANIE PUNTER, Associate Professor of Double Bass, joined the FSU faculty in Fall 1996. She is a graduate of the High School of Music and Art in New York, where she studied with Homer Mensch, and at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Alvin Brehm. She has been a member of the Juilliard MAP faculty, where she coached chamber and bass ensembles and taught double bass.

As a free-lance musician, Punter has performed with many orchestras including the The American Symphony Orchestra, and the Opera Orchestra of New York. She is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke's and is principal bassist of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. She appears frequently on PBS Live from Lincoln Center, and she has recorded on several labels.

Ms. Punter has performed in Japan and Europe and during the summers she performs at the Caramoor Music Festival and the Connecticut Early Music Festival. She is active in several chamber music groups including Boston Baroque, the Apollo Clarion ensembles, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra on period instruments. She has worked in the orchestras of many movies, including those of Spike Lee, and has performed regularly on Broadway and with various ballet orchestras including Dance Theater of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, and the American Ballet Theater.