Matt Bennett Violin

BIO - With a keen ear and smile, Matthew Bennett brings a joyful dedication to his work in orchestral music, the avant-garde, music education, and historical research. He began his orchestral career at the age of 18 with the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. He will always remember the feelings of inspiration, anxiousness, and joy when he walked into the concert hall the first time. Since then, Matthew has enjoyed performing in many orchestras including the Kinnor Philharmonic, the Southeast Kansas Symphony, the Springfield Drury Civic Orchestra, and the Topeka Symphony. Recently he has played with SoNA, the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kansas City Baroque Consortium, and the Arkansas Symphony. He has held the concertmaster position in the Taneycomo Festival Orchestra in Branson, Missouri, the Resurrection Orchestra, the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, and assistant concertmaster of the Eutin Opera Orchestra in Germany.

As a soloist, Matthew has performed with the Resurrection Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Northland Cathedral, the University of Saint Mary Symphony, Oral Roberts University Symphony, and the University of Kansas Symphony Orchestra. His solo and chamber music recital work has included Morse Concert Hall at the Juilliard School, NYC’s Advent Lutheran Church, Mannes School of Music, the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra Gala, and the Lied Center of Kansas for DukeTIP. Televised broadcasts of Matthew's performances include the Fox4 Morning Show, GEB America, and KCPT'S Arts Upload. Radio broadcasts include Ozark Public Radio KSMU, Kansas Public Radio KANU, and Tulsa Public Radio KWTU.

In 2008, Matthew won the Oral Roberts University 20th Century Music Competition with Joan Tower's Platinum Spirals. Winning that competition sparked Matthew's interest in discovering and performing New Music. Soon after, Matthew premiered works for violin and piano by the Las Angeles based composer Joshua Peterson. In 2012, Matthew worked closely with Grammy-winning composer, Michael Colina and premiered Stairway to a Midnight Cafe. In promoting new music, Matthew has performed with Black House Collective to critical acclaim as well as the avant-guard performance ensemble Helerud.

Matthew has served as an educator to schools, music organizations, and private pupils for 11 years. He has been the Director of Chamber Music at Bishop Seabury Academy, an educator at Calvary Universities Community Music School, and taught at Pittsburg State University as a guest. As an advocate of music education, Matthew worked with the Kansas City Kansas Community Orchestra to coach the orchestra students at Harmon High School in Kansas City, Kansas. Currently, Matthew is giving presentations to young musicians at schools across the country. These presentations provide insight into the vast array of responsibilities of a professional musician and promote entrepreneurship and creativity. In his own education, he immerses himself in music otherwise forgotten — bringing the works and lives of Colonial American composers to print and to practice.