Matthew has been playing trombone in wind bands since the start of high school. Weeks after starting a Double-DEC in Music and Sciences at Marianopolis College in 2016, he joined his first youth symphony orchestra, the MRYO, as principal bass trombonist. During his time in CEGEP, he performed with the McGill Wind Orchestra under the direction of Jonathan Dagenais, and the McGill Jazz Orchestra II with Ron Di Lauro, and performed in a handful of recitals at Marianopolis and with his studio at McGill. He equally implicated himself in other musical endeavours, such as performing in musical theater orchestras and chamber groups.
In his final year of CEGEP, he joined the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra for their performance of Theodore Dubois’ Messe de la Délivrance to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the WWI Armistice. Later that season, they also performed the North American premiere of Osip Koslovzky’s Requiem at the Maison Symphonique. Later that summer he joined, performed and recorded with the Low Boy Big Band as their bass trombonist.
Matthew is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Bass Trombone Performance at McGill University with Trevor Dix. He continues to perform in the MYSO and Low Boy Big Band, as well as the McGill Wind Orchestra and Jazz Orchestra II, and has added early music performance on bass sackbut to his ensemble experience.
Recently, he has devoted more time to teaching music. In 2019 he was approached by Jean MacRae to direct the Mont-Royal Youth Orchestra’s new Wind Ensemble, who performed for the first time in the following December. Around the same time, he was approached to step in and conduct part of the repertoire for the McGill Symphonic Band Club, a group of musicians from all faculties. He quickly found these education roles to be the most rewarding aspects of his musical journey, and resolved to continue his path in pedagogy by enrolling in a Music Education Minor.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Matthew took advantage of the free time, which would otherwise have been dedicated to playing and conducting ensembles, to focus on broadening his skill-set as a musician. When everything closed, he worked on improving his solo playing, and recorded a number of videos along to click-tracks to make CO-VIDeos which create a sense of community despite the ensemble’s members being apart. Later, he would get the chance to better his educational side through one-on-one zoom lessons with fellow students, as well as familiarizing himself with the audio logistics of zoom lessons with his own teacher. Early into 2021, he attended a lecture on audio engineering which rekindled his curiosity and fascination for the field. He decided to join the production team at CKUT community radio and has been the engineer for a weekly arts, news and culture show since the end of march of that year. When restrictions are lifted, he hopes to return to ensemble playing with renewed enthusiasm while continuing his exploration of both music education and music production through a variety of smaller projects.
Whether he is in music theory class, performing in an orchestra, standing in front of an ensemble or sitting behind a mixing desk, his mission is to make music interesting, fun, and accessible to everyone.