Dr. Matthew J. George
Matthew J. George holds a D.M.A. degree in conducting from the University of North Texas, a M.M. degree in music education from Southern Methodist University, and a B.M. degree in music education and trumpet performance from Ithaca College. Dr. George is Professor of Music, John Ireland Distinguished Professor, Director of Bands and Orchestra and Chair of the Department of Music at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Recently, he was named the 2013-14 Professor of the Year at UST. In addition, he has held an appointment as consultant, guest lecturer and conductor for the Music Education Center at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, China. He has taught in public schools in New York and in Texas as well as at the University of North Texas and Southern Methodist University.
Dr. George is active as a conductor and clinician/lecturer which have taken him across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, continental Europe, Ireland and the UK, Australia, Japan, China, Thailand, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and India. He maintains a busy schedule as a conductor in both professional and educational settings, and is currently Music Director of Grand Symphonic Winds. He is also the founder and past Music Director of the Banda Sinfonica at the Escuela Nacional de Musica in Mexico City, Mexico. Appearing as a guest conductor throughout the world, he regularly works with professional orchestras and bands as well as festival groups of all ages. Some such groups include the Brazilian Wind Orchestra, The São Paulo State Band, Orquesta Ouro Preto (Brazil), Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato (Mexico), the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain, Queensland Conservatorium Wind Symphony (Australia), Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK), the Banda de Madrid, the Banda de Bilbao Musika (Spain), the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, and the Band of the People's Liberation Army (China). George has served as the Artistic Director of several international music festivals, including events held in England, Australia and China in such prestigious venues as the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing.
Dr. George regularly leads his ensembles to performances at major music conferences including those for the Minnesota Music Educators Association, the College Band Directors National Association, the Music Educators National Association and The Midwest Clinic. He has led his ensembles on performance tours throughout the United States and abroad, having performed in such venues as the Sydney Opera House (Australia), in the National Theatres of Mexico, Cuba and Costa Rica, The National Center of Performing Arts (The "Egg") in China as well as some of the finest concert halls in Japan and Italy. Live national radio broadcasts include appearances on National Public Radio (US), IMER (National Mexican Radio) and the Australia Broadcast Company. His ensembles have also appeared on PBS television in the United States. Under his direction, the UST Symphonic Wind Ensemble appears on the innova record label, distributed by Naxos with six compact discs - Road to the Stars, Out of Nowhere, From All Sides, Persistence (How Very Close, Love and Hope, Duende).
Active as a clinician and lecturer, Dr. George regularly appears at music conferences throughout the world, such as The Midwest Clinic, speaking on subjects of conducting pedagogy, the performance of wind literature and commissioning new music. He is sought internationally to sit on adjudication panels and has done so for such events as the National Concert Band Festival of Great Britain, the Chinese National Band Festival, the Shanghai International Music Festival, the St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, Ireland and the Certamen de Valencia in Spain.
Dedicated to the creation of new works for wind band, his credits of commissioned works by prolific national and international composers number near eighty. Included among the composers commissioned are Luis Serrano Alarcón (2), William Banfield, Norman Bolter, Andrew Boysen (5), James Callahan (2), Loris Chobanian, Nigel Clarke (3), Roger Cichy (4), Randall Davidson, Nicholas D'Angelo, Martin Ellerby (5), Aldo Forte, Cary John Franklin, Gregory Fritze, John Gibson (2), David Gillingham, Joan Griffith, Kenneth Hesketh, Ralph Hultgren (5), Stephen Jones, Timothy Mahr, Dale McGowan, Martha Mooke, Luis Nani (2), Hudson Nogueira, Boris Pigovat, Chen Qian (2), Victoriano Valencia Rincon, Rolf Rudin, Jesús Santandreu, Lawrence Siegel, Dean Sorenson(3), Philip Spark, James Stephenson(2), Shamir Tandon, Frank Ticheli, Kit Turnbull (2), Dana Wilson and Guy Woolfenden. Consortium commissions include music by Warren Benson, Carol Barnett, Robert Bradshaw, Andrew Boysen, Chen Yi, Mary Ellen Childs, Todd Coleman, Adam Gorb, Shelly Hanson, Jennifer Higdon, Daniel Kallman (3), David Maslanka, Clark McAllister, Stephen Paulus, Rolf Rudin and Jack Stamp.
A participating member in several professional scholarly organizations, he currently serves as the chair of the New Music Committee for the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) and he served as president of the North Central Conference of CBDNA. He was also on the Board of Directors for the Minnesota Band Directors Association. He is an elected member of two honorary fraternities, Pi Kappa Lambda and Phi Beta Mu. He is also an active member of the Conductor's Guild, American Composers Forum, National Band Association, Music Educators National Conference, the Minnesota Music Educators Association and the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles.