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Aristea Mellos is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music. Born on the island of Crete, she received her formative musical training in Sydney, where she was an avid chorister and studied classical piano.

In 2023, her Preludes were awarded of the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award. A winner of ABC Classic's Gallipoli Songs Competition, Aristea is a recipient of grants from Creative Australia ('23, '14), Create NSW ('24, '20, '21) the Presser Foundation ('15), the Earle Brown Foundation ('16), the American Australian Association ('13, '14) and the Eastman School of Music (Professional Development Award '14). Her music has been published by the Capliano Review, and Soundboard Magazine, and has been released and broadcast by DECCA Australia, Hyperion Records, ABC Classic, NPR, Tall Poppies, Artist Share, Xenofone, WAYO 104.3FM, and Fine Music.

As a composer who focuses on art songs and intimate chamber music, Mellos has worked closely with many notable soloists including Stephanie McCallum, Erin Helyard, Jane Sheldon, Bernadette Harvey, Anna Dowsley, Michael Lampard, Elinor Frey, and Daniel Pesca. She has written for the Flinders Quartet, the Song Company and is working on a new cello sonata for ACO cellist, Timo-Veikko Valve.

A fellow of Art Song Lab (VISI 2013), the AYO's Composer School (2010), and the Bowdoin International Music Festival (2009), Aristea holds a Doctorate (DMA) and Master's (MM) in Composition and Piano from the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester 2017, 2012). In 2010, she graduated with Honours Class I from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (University of Sydney). She also holds an AMusA in piano performance.

Prizes and scholarships include: the Howard Hanson Ensemble Prize (2015), the Bernard Rogers Memorial Prize (2014), the T. A. Prize for Teaching Excellence (2014), the Belle S. Gitelman Prize (2016 & 2011), the Paul Sacher Scholarship (2010-2012), the Doris Burnett Ford Scholarship (2006-2010), and the Roy Agnew Memorial Fund (2006). Aristea's primary teachers have included Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, David Liptak, Robert Morris, Lisa Bielawa, Nigel Butterley and Trevor Pearce.

Aristea has a long association with Ossia New Music (having sat on the board in 2011-12 & 2014-15), and is the co-founder of the Ritsos Project, a festival that fosters cross-cultural exchange between the United States and Greece. She currently teaches composition at both Sydney Grammar School and the Conservatorium High School, where she manages the music program.

Aristea Mellos — current to March 2025