Matthew Rowe
Assistant Professor of Music, Conducting
Director of University Orchestras
M201
619-594-5077
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MM, Conducting, The Peabody Institute of Music, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
BS, Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, England
Matthew Rowe took up the position of Director of Orchestral Studies at San Diego State University in January 2009. Prior to this he was based in Europe as an international professional conductor.
He brings to San Diego a wealth of experience in repertoire as varied as film scores, symphonic music, ballet, opera, choral and light music, and broad knowledge of teaching, education and outreach work. The hallmarks of his style are a precise technique and meticulous preparation making him much in demand for performances, recordings and master classes.
Orchestral appearances in the UK have included all the BBC orchestras as well as the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Ulster Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Manchester Camerata and the London Mozart Players. He has also been much in demand in Scandinavia, appearing with the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, the Norrkoping Symfoniorkester and all the orchestras in Denmark. He has also conducted orchestras in Italy, Holland, Mexico and the USA.
Matthew Rowe has demonstrated an exceptional ability to handle the demanding requirements of performances of classic movies with live music. These have included Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights, Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin as well as the epic, The Birth of a Nation.
In 2008 Matthew Rowe conducted two productions for Dutch National Ballet; a triple bill and Don Giovanni. He has built a close relationship with this company and its orchestra, the Holland Symfonia following a very successful tour of Ashton’s Cinderella in 2004. He recently made his debut with Birmingham Royal Ballet conducting Swan Lake, which he has also conducted for the famed Adventures in Motion Pictures and for English National Ballet. Last fall he made highly successful debuts with Royal Danish Ballet, in performances of Onegin, and with the world famous Nederlands Dans Theater. Other ballet productions include Giselle for the Royal Swedish Ballet and a new ballet for Irek Mukhamedov and the ARC Dance Company. He has worked on several productions with the Skanes Dansteater in Malmo, including Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Le Sacre du Printemps (Angelin Preljocaj’s choreography) as well as a new ballet choreographed by Rui Horta to John Adams; Shaker Loops. Opera performances include Bizet’s Carmen, Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins, and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffman with the Danish National Opera.
Born in London, Matthew Rowe studied conducting with Colin Metters, George Hurst and John Carewe. In 1990 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore to study under Frederik Prausnitz. He has also participated in conducting masterclasses with Peter Eotvos, Ton Koopman, Eri Klas, Leon Fleischer and Michael Brewer. He won top prizes at a number of international conducting competitions including the 1995 Nicolai Malko Conducting Competition in Denmark, the Lovro Matacic Conducting Competition in Zagreb and the 1999 Leeds Conductors Competition.
From 1992-1998 Matthew Rowe was Music Director of the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. Under his leadership they built up a reputation for tackling demanding repertoire to a very high standard. Highlights included the Delius Mass of Life, Messiaen Turangalila-Symphonie and the first UK performance of the complete Mahler Das Klagende Lied. From 2005-2009 he was Associate Chorus Director of the London Philharmonic Choir, preparing the choir for many performances including Brahms Requiem with Kurt Masur, Mozart Requiem and Prokofiev Alexander Nevsky with Vladimir Jurowski, Britten Spring Symphony with John Eliot Gardner and performances of Mahler 2 for Pope John Paul II in the Vatican.
Matthew Rowe is deeply committed to education and outreach work. He enjoys coaxing the very best from all ages and abilities and his adaptability and enthusiasm are much in demand. Projects have included live web-concerts with the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra, collaborations with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and English National Opera. Similarly he has conducted many youth orchestras including the Leeds Youth Orchestra, the Aarhus Conservatoire Orchestra, the Danish National Youth Orchestra and the Scottish Youth Orchestra. In recent years he has also built a considerable reputation as a conducting pedagogue, his teaching abilities achieving national attention in the UK when he appeared as a mentor in the BBC television series, Maestro.
For further information on Instrumental Music visit http://ensembles.sdsu.edu
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