Matthew Tommasini (b.1978) is an internationally recognized composer of expressive and engaging music that draws from many different influences. His work has been performed by principal members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, and Pacific Symphony. He has been awarded prizes including the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, first prize in the 2006 ASCAP/SCI Commission Competition, the ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize, and ASCAPlus Awards. His work has been supported by grants from the ASCAP Foundation's Leonard Bernstein Fund, the Puffin Foundation, the American Music Center's Composer Assistance Program (CAP), and the Subito Quick Advancement Program of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Composers Forum.
Mr. Tommasini has been commissioned by organizations including the New York Youth Symphony, the Milwaukee Ballet, ASCAP/SCI, the University of Michigan Symphony band, the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings/Oberlin Conservatory/University of Michigan Consortium, and the Big East Band Directors Association, a consortium of sixteen universities including the University of Louisville, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and Rutgers University. Premieres of his work have been reviewed in the New York Times, the Detroit Free Press, the Orange County Register, and the Ann Arbor News.
His orchestral works have been performed by the New York Youth Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and at the American Composers Orchestra Underwood Reading Sessions, and the Riverside Symphony Reading Sessions.
During the 2008-9 season, Mr. Tommasini served as composer-in-residence for the Chicago-based chamber music series Music in the Loft which included performances of his works by the Cleveland Quartet Award-winning Parker Quartet, senior associate concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony, Gary Levinson, and noted piano soloist, Adam Neiman. His work Dreams of Orpheus was premiered by Antares and commissioned by Music in the Loft with the support of a CAP grant from the American Music Center.
In 2009, Matthew Tommasini was invited to participate in ASCAP's "Walking the Halls" event on Capitol Hill where he joined ASCAP board members and constituents to speak to congress people about the need to protect intellectual property rights of composers and song writers.
Mr. Tommasini is co-founder and composer-in-residence of the southern California-based Connections Chamber Music Series. Together with the ensemble-in-residence, the California Quartet, which includes principal members of the Pacific Symphony, Connections presents fresh and exciting programs of cutting-edge new works and standard repertoire.
A recording of Mr. Tommasini's complete works for violin by violinist Martha Walvoord entitled American Perspectives will soon be released on the Centaur Records label. The recording of his work Taking Sides (for solo trombone, woodwind octet, percussion, piano, and contrabass) will soon be released on trombonist David Jackson's upcoming CD, Inner Rebellion, recorded with members of the University of Michigan Symphony Band on the University of Michigan's Block-M Records label.
Mr. Tommasini's ASCAP/CBDNA Frederick Fennell Prize-winning work Three Spanish Songs (for soprano and chamber wind ensemble), commissioned by the University of Michigan Symphony Band, has been published by Alfred Publishing in the Donald Hunsberger Wind Library, edited by Eastman Wind Ensemble conductor-emeritus Donald Hunsberger. The work continues to be performed by prestigious soprano soloists and ensembles around the world.
Mr. Tommasini was recently appointed Adjunct Associate Professor of Music Composition at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the 2010-2011 academic year. In addition to teaching, he will be working with composer Bright Sheng to develop a music program and establish an international composers workshop in the spring of 2011 in Hong Kong.
Matthew Tommasini received his BA degree in composition from UCLA, where he studied with Paul Chihara and Ian Krouse. He received his MA and DMA degrees from the University of Michigan where he studied with William Bolcom, Michael Daugherty, Bright Sheng, Leslie Bassett, and Evan Chambers. Mr. Tommasini is a member of ASCAP.
Updated 8/2010
