Vaccine Therapy Followed by Biological Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage III or Stage IV Melanoma

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically confirmed metastatic melanoma Measurable disease after attempted curative surgery Unresectable stage III or IV uveal melanoma Metastatic mucosal melanoma HLA-A2.1 positive No disease progression following high dose interleukin-2 (600,000 or 720,000 IU/kg every 8 hours) PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: ECOG 0-1 Life expectancy: Not specified Hematopoietic: WBC at least 3,000/mm^3 Platelet count at least 75,000/mm^3 Hemoglobin at least 9.0 g/dL No coagulation disorders Hepatic: Bilirubin no greater than 2.0 mg/dL Renal: Creatinine no greater than 2.0 mg/dL Cardiovascular: No myocardial infarction within the past 6 months Patients with documented or suspected coronary artery disease must undergo stress thallium test No major cardiovascular illness Pulmonary: No major pulmonary illness Immunologic: HIV negative Hepatitis B surface antigen negative Hepatitis C antibody negative No history of uveitis or autoimmune inflammatory eye disease Other: Not pregnant or nursing Negative pregnancy test Fertile patients must use effective contraception No major systemic infection No other malignancy within the past 5 years except curatively treated carcinoma in situ of the cervix or basal cell skin cancer PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: See Disease Characteristics No prior MART-1:26-35, gp100:209-217, or tyrosinase:368-376 antigens Chemotherapy: At least 1 month since prior chemotherapy for melanoma Endocrine therapy: No concurrent steroid therapy Radiotherapy: At least 1 month since prior radiotherapy for melanoma Surgery: See Disease Characteristics Other: At least 1 month since prior adjuvant therapy for melanoma At least 1 month since other prior therapy for melanoma