Melissa Schaak - Cristina Masotti

Melissa Schaak draws upon a vast array of experience spanning multiple musical styles and continents. She earned a Bmus and Diploma in Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University before continuing her studies at Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Her private instructors included acclaimed performers such as Peter Brunt, Lex Korff de Gidts, Jerzy Kaplanek and Moshe Hammer. She also received training in chamber music with renowned ensembles such as the Julliard, Tokyo, Emerson and Alban Berg String Quartets and played under the baton of Reinbert De Leeuw.
Performing in both classical and pop realms, Melissa has been heard in string sections accompanying the likes of Chaka Khan, Perry Farrell, Simple Minds, Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, Disturbed and Evanescence.
She has also held the principle second violinist chair of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra
since 2019, and continues to perform with the Timmins Symphony Orchestra. She was a member of the North Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Utrecht Kamerorkest Trajectum, Orchestra Symphonique regional de l’Abitibi Temiscamingue and the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra.
Prior to co-founding 2V+, Melissa was a part of several other successful classical-crossover outfits, including the Innovative String Quartet, Electra and the Exclusive Strings.

Cristina Masotti has enjoyed a long and varied professional musical history. She is a lifelong orchestral musician, playing in ensembles like the Sudbury, North Bay, Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie Symphony Orchestras, under the direction of respected conductors like Alain Trudel, Victor Feldbrill, Rodney Friend, David Zafer, Nurhan Arman and Melanie Leonard.
Cristina is the concertmaster of Sudbury’s YES Theatre, who has mounted productions of Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music and other classics. As one third of Fagroongala, she delves into French Canadian and British Isles folk, and while in Zabava, she plays Ukrainian polka music.
She has also been part of several other bands such as Ginkgo Girls, the Aliens, Hank and the Hoosier Daddies and Fritz, performing original compositions in styles that span rock to electronica.
Cristina has taught at Cambrian College for 11 years, providing instruction for a studio of over 40 violinists. Previously she served as a music teacher for the Montessori School of Sudbury and Northern Elementary School and also hosted a summer rock band camp in Sudbury.
Her diverse experience provided the foundation for Soundscapes North, an agency she established for corporate and classical music events.