Dr. Brandon Stephen Matthews
Coordinator of String Studies
Assistant Professor
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Contact Area Classes |
Brandon Stephen Matthews serves as music director of the MSU Denver Symphony Orchestra as well as coordinator of string studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. A vibrant and versatile conductor, he is equally comfortable directing ensembles on the concert stage and in the theatre pit.
Dr. Matthews's recent conducting engagements include the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Chopin's First Piano Concerto with international artist Katie Mahan as soloist. The 2010-2011 season will feature performances with Denver Public Schools' Citywide Honor Orchestra and The Nutcracker and Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with Longmont Ballet Company. In addition, Dr. Matthews will conduct MSU Denver's first fully-staged operatic production in November, Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. Dr. Matthews also serves as a musical director in MSU Denver's musical theatre program. This season boasts productions of Anything Goes and A New Brain.
Matthews obtained a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting at Arizona State University, studying with Timothy Russell and William Reber. While at ASU, he was co-music director of the ASU Sinfonietta and was as an assistant conductor for the ASU Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. He also conducted operatic performances of Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Don Pasquale, Luisa Fernanda, as well as the musical NunsenseII while working in the ASU Lyric Opera Theatre. Matthews received a Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting at Brigham Young University under the direction of Kory Katseanes. Other conducting mentors include, Larry Rachleff, Harold Farberman, Louis Lane, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, David Alan Miller, Henry Charles Smith, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.
Dr. Matthews's theatre experience includes work as music director for Center Street Musical Theatre Company in Provo, Utah. While there he conducted shows in a wide array of styles including The Mikado, Les Miserables, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Annie Get Your Gun.
Raised in Spokane, Washington, Dr. Matthews began his musical studies as a pianist and later took up the viola and violin. His musical training continued during summers spent at the Brevard Music Center and the Marrowstone Summer Festival on the Puget Sound. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at BYU. Today Dr. Matthews maintains active studios teaching piano, violin and viola, and vocal coaching, as well as conducting.
Dr. Matthews resides in Denver with his wife, Meghan, and their children, George and Sylvia.
