Matthew Peterson

Matthew Peterson (born July 22, 1984) is a composer of operas, choral works, orchestral and chamber music.

composer Matthew Peterson

Biography

Matthew Peterson was born and raised in Grand Forks, North Dakota. He studied music composition at St. Olaf College, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Gotland School of Music Composition[1] where his teachers included Mary Ellen Childs and Sven-David Sandström.

Peterson is a freelance composer based in Sweden, first arriving on a Fulbright Award in 2008. His Fulbright project was the true-crime chamber opera Voir Dire,[2] a work that received critical-acclaim after its 2017 world premiere at Fort Worth Opera.[3] He is a member of FST (the Association of Swedish Composers)[4] and has been commissioned by Swedish musicians and ensembles including guitarist Mårten Falk, Gustaf Sjökvist Chamber Choir, Uppsala Vokalensemble, Sofia Vokalensemble, and Stockholm Saxophone Quartet. His music has been featured at international music festivals Svensk Musikvår, Purpur (South Africa), Ljudvågor, Jubilate and Sound of Stockholm.

In 2014 Peterson was awarded the ASCAP Rudolph Nissim Award for Hyperborea for orchestra.[5] The same year he won both first prize and the audience/radio-listener's prize at the Uppsala composer competition for And all the trees of the field will clap their hands for chamber orchestra,[6] and his true-crime opera Voir Dire was the winner of the Fort Worth Opera Frontiers showcase for new opera.[7]

Concert works

Peterson's music has been performed at venues across Europe and North America such as the Kennedy Center, Stockholms Konserthuset, Minneapolis Orchestra Hall and Gothenburg Konserthuset by ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, VocalEssence, Malmö Symphony, Chanticleer, Vanemuine Symphony, Fort Worth Opera, Colorado Springs Philharmonic, and others. His works are regularly performed on St. Olaf College’s annual Christmas Fest concerts.[8]

Operas

Voir Dire

The courtroom opera Voir Dire is adapted from true-crime stories witnessed by librettist Jason Zencka while he was court reporter for the Stevens Point Journal.[9] The 2017 world premiere production by Fort Worth Opera received national critical acclaim. Opera Now called Voir Dire “startlingly immediate and journalistic in feel, made memorable by the depth and texture of the music.”[10] Heidi Waleson, in her review for The Wall Street Journal, wrote: “The opera drills unsentimentally into the tragedies of ordinary people...its power lies in how believable their emotions are.”[11]

Lifeboat

Lifeboat, an opera with libretto by Emily Roller, is inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis. A John F Kennedy Center Commission for Washington National Opera, it premiered January 14, 2017 at the Kennedy Center. Classical Voice America praised Peterson's “admirable mastery of both vocal writing and colorful orchestration,”[12] and Anne Midgette of the Washington Post wrote “Lifeboat began dramatically with a storm scene, then moved onto the tranquility of the becalmed, focusing on three shipwreck survivors in a lifeboat, and culminating in a vocal trio that Peterson was able to make truly beautiful.”[13]

The Binding of Isaac

Peterson's first opera, The Binding of Isaac, is a modern retelling of the Biblical story of Abraham, set in a religious-fundamentalist compound. This was Peterson's first collaboration with librettist and writer Jason Zencka. It premiered at St. Olaf College in 2006 and was awarded the 2007 BMI Student Composer Award.[14]

Awards

Works

Operas
  • The Binding of Isaac, chamber opera for four singers and seven instruments, libretto by Jason Zencka (2006)
  • Voir Dire, chamber opera for five singers and nine players, libretto by Jason Zencka (2016)
  • Lifeboat, chamber opera for soprano, mezzo, baritone and chamber orchestra, libretto by Emily Roller (2016)

Orchestral works
  • Veturnœtur for string orchestra (2003)
  • Rage for orchestra (2005)
  • Exhortation for orchestra (2005)
  • A London Thoroughfare: 2 A.M. for orchestra and soprano (2007)
  • Snow Words for string orchestra (2007)
  • Dr. Deviant’s Diabolical Dirigible (2007) for string orchestra
  • Reflections on the Death of the Beloved for band (2009)
  • Icumen for orchestra (2011)
  • Hyperborea for orchestra (2011)
  • Dawn: Redeeming, Radiant for orchestra (2012)
  • The River for band, string orchestra, and choir (2012)
  • A Winged Heart for band (2012)
  • And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands for chamber orchestra (2013)
  • Corde Natus for orchestra (2014)
  • Tumult and Flood for chamber orchestra (2015)

Choral works
  • The Bedtime Prayer for SATB choir a cappella (2004)
  • With His Venom for SATB choir a cappella (2005) to text of Sappho
  • Drunk on Dragon Hill for SATB a cappella (2005)
  • Miserere Mei motet for SATB a cappella (2006)
  • Hymn to Diana madrigal for SATB a cappella (2007) to text of Ben Jonson
  • Alleluia SATB a cappella (2010)
  • Surgit Dorpatum SSAA a cappella (2015)
  • Lux Aeterna motet for double SATB choir a cappella (2017)
  • Dikter choral suite SATB a cappella (2018) to six poems of Edith Södergran
  • Sommar i bergen for SATB and nyckelharpa (2018) to poem by Edith Södergran
  • Cantate Domino motet for SATB (2018)
  • Adoramus Te motet for SMATBB (2018)
  • Ave Maris Stella motet for SSAATTBB (2018)

Solo works
  • La Flute de Pan for flute (2005)
  • Floodsong (’97) for marimba (2007)
  • Dakota Variations for flute (2009)
  • kick for percussion (2009)
  • Näcken för violin (2011)
  • Bound and Unbound for piano (2011)
  • A Winged Heart for organ (2012)
  • Sagovärld for piano (2015)
  • Huldra for marimba (2014)
  • smooth fat nasty for baritone saxophone (2017)
  • Peregrinations for guitar (2017)

Chamber music
  • Tag for oboe, clarinet, bassoon (2003)
  • Brass Quintet (2004)
  • Soliloquy for cello & piano (2006)
  • Inquiry into Discord for string quartet (2007)
  • Homages for flute, clarinet, horn, trumpet, two percussionists, violin, cello (2008)
  • Acutely Chronic Dances for 2 trumpets and 2 trombones (2008)
  • Anemoi for alto saxophone och piano (2008)
  • Rosorna for string quartet (2009)
  • Brutal Music for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass (2010)
  • Thunderheads for 2 percussionists (2011)
  • Empire Builder for flute, piano, violin (2012)
  • Paean for 4 percussionists (2012)
  • Badlands for string quartet (2013)
  • Shining Arches for 3 trumpets (2015)
  • January for string trio (2016)
  • Vingar, Virvlar for soprano and tenor saxophone (2018)

Vocal music
  • Music for a Wedding for soprano, tenor, English horn, trombone, piano, organ (2007)
  • My mouth hovers across your breasts for soprano and guitar (2007)
  • Of Marriage for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, violin, viola, cello
  • Jailhouse and (pavane for a dead infant) for mezzo, flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, viola, cello (2009)
  • Nine songs for singer, drumset, synth, el. guitar, el. bass (2010/11)
  • Cicada for soprano, violin, cello (2012)
  • Mass for soprano and percussion (2012)

Electronic music
  • Alone. Pebbles, a Pond (2005)
  • El Niño Mudo (2006)
  • Food Court Variations (2007)
  • Horizons (2011)
  • Rain Dances (2012)

References
  1. "Gotlands Tonsättarskola – Matthew Peterson". www.gotlandstonsattarskola.com (in Swedish). Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  2. "Honoree: Search Awards: University Honors & Awards: Indiana University". honorsandawards.iu.edu. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  3. "Texas Classical Review". texasclassicalreview.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  4. "Matthew Peterson | Föreningen svenska tonsättare". fst.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  5. "Matthew Peterson Receives ASCAP Foundation Nissim Prize for Hyperborea". www.ascap.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  6. "Matthew Peterson tog storslam i Uppsala tonsättartävling". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  7. "Fort Worth Opera announces 2017 Festival season; second phase of Americas program". Fortworthbusiness.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  8. Young, Alison. "St. Olaf Christmas Festival". Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  9. Morgan, Kate (2017-04-20). "TheaterJones | Justice and Humanity | Fort Worth Opera". TheaterJones.com. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  10. Waleson, Heidi (June 2017). "Voir Dire Peterson". Opera Now. June 2017: 72–73.
  11. Waleson, Heidi (2017-05-01). "'Voir Dire' Review: True Crime in the Opera House". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  12. "Trio Of 20-minute Operas Premiered In WNO Showcase". Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  13. Midgette, Ann. "Opera as lively art – or not-so-lively". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  14. "55th Annual BMI Student Composer Award Winners Announced:". BMI Foundation. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  15. "Student Composer Competition". Chanticleer. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  16. "58th Annual BMI Student Composer Award Winners Announced:". BMI Foundation. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  17. "Voir Dire wins Opera Vista competition". Houston Chronicle. 2011-03-21. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  18. "Seven Emerging Composers Selected For 2013 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute". NewMusicBox. 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  19. Desk, BWW News. "Washington National Opera Presents 2017 American Opera Initiative Festival, 1/13". Retrieved 2018-07-27.
  20. "2018 Washington International Competition for Composition, Information". Friday Morning Music Club Foundation Competitions. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
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