Matthew Peterson

Composer Matthew Peterson has swiftly made his mark as an independent, vital new voice in composition, with works that have been described as “truly beautiful” (The Washington Post) “darkly brilliant” (Texas Classical Review) and “startlingly immediate” (Wall Street Journal). He is a composer who moves dynamically between socially-relevant contemporary operas, epic orchestral works celebrating a great and powerful nature, playful and virtuosic solos, and shimmering, lyrical choral works.  

His music defies categorization. Sixty-plus performed works feature mystical soundscapes, atmospheric light-clouds, soaring voices embracing one another midair, airy and elusive constructions of undulating dynamics and flickering facets, powerful zigzag lines, unruly and physically pounding rhythms snorting with life, and songs of devastating simplicity.

CURRENT ACTIVITY 

Over the past five years (2016-20) Peterson has been commissioned by the Kennedy Center, Musik I Syd/Lund Choral Festival, The St Olaf Orchestra, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Sofia Vokalensemble, Uppsala Vokalensemble, organist Bengt Tribukait, Trio Lindgård Rodrick Öqvist, Gustaf Sjökvists Chamber Choir, and guitarist Mårten Falk. His crossover collaborations include orchestrations for performing artists Mariam the Believer and Stor.

Recent and upcoming performances include Sofia Vokalensemble’s August 2019 Japan Tour featuring Cantate Domino, the October 2019 world premiere at Stockholms Konserthus of Dance Party Playlist commissioned in honor of Stockholm Saxophone Quartet’s 50th anniversary, The St Olaf Choir’s 2019 Norway Tour and 2020 US East Coast tour featuring Adoramus Te, the March 2020 premiere at Berwaldhallen of a new work composed in memory of Sven-David Sandström for Gustaf Sjökvists Kammarkör and Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, the summer 2020 premiere of Laud for organ by Bengt Tribukait, the October 2020 premiere of The Singing Wilderness with St. Olaf Orchestra, and the October 2020 premiere of three motets for a cappella choir at Lund Choral Festival.  

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Matthew has been awarded the Fulbright Grant to Sweden, grand prize in the 2014 Uppsala tonsättartävling, the 2014 ASCAP Rudolf Nissim Award, 2015 Minnesota Orchestra composer institute, two BMI student composer awards, the 2014 Fort Worth Opera Frontiers Festival award for chamber opera, and other funding, honors, and awards from: Kulturrådet (the Swedish Arts Council), Svensk Musik, FST (Swedish Composers Association), STIM, ASCAP, Längmanska Kulturfond, the Wallenberg Foundation, Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation, Manhattan Beach Music, Third Angle ensemble, New Lens concert series, Opera Vista, North-South Consonance, Indiana University, Boston Choral Ensemble, National Opera Association, vocal ensemble Chanticleer, Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra, Forth Worth Opera, Vocal Essence, and St. Olaf College. His choral works are published by Gehrmans and Hinshaw, and his remaining works are available from Svensk Musik/Swedish Music Information Center and Tempo Music Resource.  

EDUCATION

Peterson holds degrees from the Gotland School of Music Composition (artist diploma), Indiana University School of Music (M.M.) and St. Olaf College (B.M.), where his teachers included Sven-David Sandström and Mary Ellen Childs. Currently head instructor of music composition at Lilla Akademien, Matthew has also served on the faculty of the Gotland School of Music Composition (Visby, Sweden) and as an Associate Instructor in music composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Matthew is an avid outdoorsman and lives in Dalarna, Sweden.

large ensemble
•Symphony 1: The Singing Wilderness (2020) for orchestra
•Newborn Glimmer (2019) for orchestra
•Tumult and Flood (2016) for sinfonietta
•Corde Natus (2014) for orchestra
•And all the trees of the field will clap their hands (2013) for chamber orchestra
•Dawn: Redeeming, Radiant (2012) for orchestra
•Hyperborea (2011) for orchestra
•Reflections on the Death of the Beloved (2009) for symphonic band

opera
•Voir Dire (2009-10, rev 2016) for five singers and nine players; libretto by Jason Zencka
•Lifeboat (2016) for three singers and chamber orchestra; libretto by Emily Roller
•The Binding of Isaac (2005-6) for four singers and septet; libretto by Jason Zencka

choral
​•And, lo, a great multitude (2020) for SATB chorus​
​•Non Nobis (2020) for SATB chorus​
​•Salve Regina (2020) for SATB chorus​​
•In the beginning (2020) for SATB chorus and saxophone quartet
•Adoramus Te (2018) for SATB chorus
•Cantate Domino (2018) for SATB chorus
•Ljusfälten (2017) for SATB chorus
•Lux Aeterna (2017) for SSAATTBB double chorus
•Surgit Dorpatum (2015) for SSAA chorus

chamber
•Dance Party Playlist (2019) for saxophone quartet
•Vingar, Virvlar (2018) for soprano and tenor saxophone
•January (2016) for string trio
•Shining Arches (2015) for three trumpets
•Badlands (2013-14) for string quartet
•Mass (2012) for soprano and percussion
•Thunderheads (2011) for two percussionists
•Brutal Music (2010) for fl, cl, pno, perc, vln, vc, cb
•Rosorna (2009) for string quartet

solo
•To the Firmament (2020) for organ
•Laud (2020) for organ
•The Baddest Girl on the Mountain (2019) for alto saxophone
•Koraconnes (2019) for cello
•polska plska pla (2019) for piano
•smooth fat nasty (2017) for baritone saxophone
•Peregrinations (2017) for guitar
•Huldra (2014) for marimba
•Näcken (2011) for violin
•Bound and Unbound (2011) for piano