Melissa Achten is a Los Angeles based performer and composer using the harp as a diaristic tool for channeling cathartic expression. Her compositions directly engage the listener, challenging the boundaries between body, instrument, and sound in search of nuanced meaning. Melissa's performances often employ a surrealist narrative, incorporating objects and costumes. She has premiered work in New York, Germany, Copenhagen, Montréal, and London, performing in abandoned water towers, cemeteries, haunted mansions, and other liminal spaces. Melissa is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Oracle Egg, an artist-run incubator for experimental music and performance in downtown Los Angeles, which she runs with her partner, Eli Klausner.