Melissa Axel

Melissa Axel studied at Boston's Berklee College of Music and earned a master's in Interdisciplinary Arts from Nova Southeastern University, creating the multimedia stage production The Human Adventure. The song "Fall This Hard" went on to be featured in the award-winning film Who's Afraid of Vagina Wolf? (2013), and Axel has written custom end credits songs for three short films, including Whitney's Wedding (2017), winner Best International Film, Focus On Ability Short Film Festival (Australia). Almost 200 Kickstarter backers helped fund a limited edition vinyl release of Axel's debut album, with string arrangements by award-winning composers Matthew Nicholl and Kailin Yong, featuring both Yong and DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman on violin. In the UK, Axel received several WOMAD songwriting workshop scholarships, co-writing "Every Place Is Home" with Peter Gabriel collaborator Andy White. As associate producer of live-to-film concerts such as The Little Mermaid: An Immersive Live-to-Film Concert Experience (2019) and Beauty and the Beast in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl (2018), as well as A Whole New World of Alan Menken, Axel enjoys working with the legendary composer on his retrospective solo show and bringing to life gala Hollywood Bowl productions of these Disney animated classics featuring a full orchestra and performances by guest stars such as Sara Bareilles, Taye Diggs, Rebel Wilson, Cheech Marin, Lea Michele, and Harvey Fierstein. Additional live-to-film concerts include the hit romantic comedy La La Land (2016), conducted by Oscar®-winning composer Justin Hurwitz with a special performance by Arturo Sandoval, and the 1971 favorite Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), for which Axel supervised a diverse team creating animations of original artwork by Shag to be projected on the Bowl's proscenium in sync with song performances by guest artists such as Ingrid Michaelson, John Stamos, and 'Weird Al' Yankovic. Together with fellow producers Makena Metz and Angela Parrish, Axel is developing the new shorts project DRIVEN: Modern Musicals About L.A. Artists. Axel co-wrote eleven songs for two of the mini-musicals, Hair Day and Slightly Composed.