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Matthew C. Saunders: Biography
Dr. Matthew C. Saunders (born 1976, Austin, Texas, USA) is a Northeast Ohio composer, conductor, trombonist, husband, and father. All his work is connected to teaching students from kindergarten to college in styles from madrigal to mariachi. He draws inspiration from the vastness of space, the waterways and forests, mountains and prairies of America, the motion of atoms, and the mysteries of existence, but most importantly from collaboration with other musicians and his students. He reads history, science, science fiction, classics, and too much social media. After a hard day’s work, he relaxes on the couch with his wonderful wife, who is the love of his life and his teammate in the sport of parenting their children. On sunny days off, he bicycles and hikes, and hopes to bike the full length of the Ohio & Erie Canalway, from Cleveland to Bolivar, a short distance from the first home he remembers. He is lucky to live near Lake Erie, and he often pauses to look out over it for the glimpse of a freighter, or merely to contemplate the motion of the water. Dr. Saunders is a lover of both solitude and camaraderie, Cincinnati-style chili, road trips, movies, and random facts. His favorite dinosaur is the Parasaurolophus, but he thinks the best dinosaur is the Stegosaurus. He keeps a running list of possible band names, and one day hopes to start one, singing clever songs about the world (as well as a few love songs) with plenty of vocal harmony. He gets excited about lots of music that he would never write or perform himself, and does what he can to share that with the world, too, because everyone’s voice should be heard.
Dr. Saunders is Professor of Music and music and theater department chair at Lakeland Community College, where he also directs the Lakeland Civic Orchestra. Prior to coming to Lakeland, he held the position of Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Oklahoma Panhandle State University from 2007 to 2012. He received degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Ohio State University. Dr. Saunders studied composition with Donald Harris, Thomas Wells, Jan Radzynski, and Wes Flinn, and trombone with Joseph Duchi and Tony Chipurn.
Dr. Saunders’ original compositions have been performed across the country, including performances at national conferences of the National Flute Association, the International Horn Society, and the Society of Composers, and he has presented his research at conferences of the College Music Society and the Society of Composers, and at the Oklahoma Music Theory Roundtable and the Aspen Composers Conference. His works for large ensemble have been performed by the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra (Columbus, Ohio), the Marquette (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra, the University City (Missouri) Symphony Orchestra; at Eastern Illinois University, Kutztown University (Pennsylvania), Denison University (Ohio), Westminster College (Pennsylvania), Florida Gulf Coast University, Lakeland Community College (Ohio), Sinclair Community College (Ohio), West Texas A&M University, The Ohio State University, Kansas State University, and Oklahoma Panhandle State University. His work South Africa for horn and marimba received support from the Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund of the International Horn Society, and appears on faculty and graduate recitals across the United States and throughout the world. He received the 2007 Ruth Friscoe Prize for composition, was the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association 2011 Commissioned Composer (for his Piano Sonata), and is the recipient of six ASCAP Plus Awards. His arrangements for orchestra have been performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Mankato (Minnesota) Symphony Orchestra, the Lakeland Civic Orchestra, the Ohio Northern Philharmonic, the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra, and the Macon (Georgia) Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Saunders has received commissions and commissioning support from the Wake Forest Community Youth Orchestra, conductor Antoine T. Clark, the Blue Streak Ensemble, the Ekklesia Reed Quintet, the Ohio Valley Majestic Brass, the Johnstone Fund for New Music, the McConnell Arts Center (Columbus, Ohio), The Ohio State University, the University of Dayton, Northern Ohio University, Lakeland Community College, the Cleveland Composers Guild, the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, the Fine Arts Association (Willoughby, Ohio), Westminster College, Tabor College (Kansas), Florida Gulf Coast University, and the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras. He has collaborated on commissions and performances with members and faculty of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toledo (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Navy Band Northeast, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, the New England Conservatory of Music, The Ohio State University, New Mexico State University, Eastern Illinois University, the University of Minnesota-Morris, Eastern New Mexico University, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Lakeland Community College, Lake Erie College (Ohio), Hiram College (Ohio), Minot State University (North Dakota), and the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Dr. Saunders was elected to the Cleveland Composers Guild in 2012, and currently serves as secretary of that group, managing their Collegiate Composition Contest project. With B.J. Brooks, he co-hosted the 2012 Society of Composers Region VI Conference at West Texas A&M University. His collaboration with pianist Avguste Antonov has yielded performances of his solo piano works throughout the Plains and Midwest states, and led to the 2014 premiere of his Piano Concerto. Portions of his piano cycle Starry Wanderers appear on Antonov’s 2014 CD American Journey on the Hartshorn Classical label, and Antonov premiered his piano cycle The Rainbow’s Daughter in Chicago in 2017. His 2012 composition Lady Glides on the Moon appears on Duo Eigentone, the debut CD by saxophonist Aaron Durst and percussionist David Kile, released in late 2019.
As a conductor, Dr. Saunders has been the director of the Lakeland Civic Orchestra since 2012, where he has championed the music of Northeast Ohio composers and commissioned works from Inna Onofrei, Jordan Aston, Carol Linsenmeier, Margi Griebling-Haigh, Daniel Perttu, Olivia Kieffer, and Cooper Wood, and collaborated with performing faculty members from Kent State University, Cleveland State University, Baldwin Wallace University, and Westminster University. Since 2012, the Lakeland Civic Orchestra has also collaborated with the Lakeland Civic Chorus in performances of works by Schubert, Faure, Brahms, and Bernstein. He has conducted college and community stage productions of L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd, Grease, and Little Women. In his position at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Dr. Saunders was the director of bands, including concert, athletic, and mariachi ensembles.
Dr. Saunders has appeared as soloist in multiple performances in his trombone concerto Homo sapiens trombonensis, and in his 40-minute work for unaccompanied trombone, Twenty Views of the Trombone, which received its first complete performance at Eyedrum in Atlanta in 2017, with excerpts performed in locations from New York City to Aspen, Colorado. He maintains a private trombone studio at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, Ohio, and also teaches composition to pre-college students.
Dr. Saunders’ music is published by Imagine Music and online at www.martiandances.com, and he has written articles for The Journal of Band Research, Music Educators Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Society of Composers Newsletter, and The Instrumentalist. He is on the web at www.martiandances.com, but the physical Dr. Saunders lives in Willowick, Ohio with his wife Becky and their children Noah and Melia. He is a native-born Texan, but considers Columbus, Ohio to be his hometown.
Dr. Saunders is Professor of Music and music and theater department chair at Lakeland Community College, where he also directs the Lakeland Civic Orchestra. Prior to coming to Lakeland, he held the position of Associate Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Oklahoma Panhandle State University from 2007 to 2012. He received degrees in music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and The Ohio State University. Dr. Saunders studied composition with Donald Harris, Thomas Wells, Jan Radzynski, and Wes Flinn, and trombone with Joseph Duchi and Tony Chipurn.
Dr. Saunders’ original compositions have been performed across the country, including performances at national conferences of the National Flute Association, the International Horn Society, and the Society of Composers, and he has presented his research at conferences of the College Music Society and the Society of Composers, and at the Oklahoma Music Theory Roundtable and the Aspen Composers Conference. His works for large ensemble have been performed by the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra (Columbus, Ohio), the Marquette (Michigan) Symphony Orchestra, the University City (Missouri) Symphony Orchestra; at Eastern Illinois University, Kutztown University (Pennsylvania), Denison University (Ohio), Westminster College (Pennsylvania), Florida Gulf Coast University, Lakeland Community College (Ohio), Sinclair Community College (Ohio), West Texas A&M University, The Ohio State University, Kansas State University, and Oklahoma Panhandle State University. His work South Africa for horn and marimba received support from the Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund of the International Horn Society, and appears on faculty and graduate recitals across the United States and throughout the world. He received the 2007 Ruth Friscoe Prize for composition, was the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association 2011 Commissioned Composer (for his Piano Sonata), and is the recipient of six ASCAP Plus Awards. His arrangements for orchestra have been performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Mankato (Minnesota) Symphony Orchestra, the Lakeland Civic Orchestra, the Ohio Northern Philharmonic, the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra, and the Macon (Georgia) Symphony Orchestra.
Dr. Saunders has received commissions and commissioning support from the Wake Forest Community Youth Orchestra, conductor Antoine T. Clark, the Blue Streak Ensemble, the Ekklesia Reed Quintet, the Ohio Valley Majestic Brass, the Johnstone Fund for New Music, the McConnell Arts Center (Columbus, Ohio), The Ohio State University, the University of Dayton, Northern Ohio University, Lakeland Community College, the Cleveland Composers Guild, the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, the Fine Arts Association (Willoughby, Ohio), Westminster College, Tabor College (Kansas), Florida Gulf Coast University, and the Columbus Symphony Youth Orchestras. He has collaborated on commissions and performances with members and faculty of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Toledo (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra, the U.S. Navy Band Northeast, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, the New England Conservatory of Music, The Ohio State University, New Mexico State University, Eastern Illinois University, the University of Minnesota-Morris, Eastern New Mexico University, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Lakeland Community College, Lake Erie College (Ohio), Hiram College (Ohio), Minot State University (North Dakota), and the University of Wisconsin-Stout.
Dr. Saunders was elected to the Cleveland Composers Guild in 2012, and currently serves as secretary of that group, managing their Collegiate Composition Contest project. With B.J. Brooks, he co-hosted the 2012 Society of Composers Region VI Conference at West Texas A&M University. His collaboration with pianist Avguste Antonov has yielded performances of his solo piano works throughout the Plains and Midwest states, and led to the 2014 premiere of his Piano Concerto. Portions of his piano cycle Starry Wanderers appear on Antonov’s 2014 CD American Journey on the Hartshorn Classical label, and Antonov premiered his piano cycle The Rainbow’s Daughter in Chicago in 2017. His 2012 composition Lady Glides on the Moon appears on Duo Eigentone, the debut CD by saxophonist Aaron Durst and percussionist David Kile, released in late 2019.
As a conductor, Dr. Saunders has been the director of the Lakeland Civic Orchestra since 2012, where he has championed the music of Northeast Ohio composers and commissioned works from Inna Onofrei, Jordan Aston, Carol Linsenmeier, Margi Griebling-Haigh, Daniel Perttu, Olivia Kieffer, and Cooper Wood, and collaborated with performing faculty members from Kent State University, Cleveland State University, Baldwin Wallace University, and Westminster University. Since 2012, the Lakeland Civic Orchestra has also collaborated with the Lakeland Civic Chorus in performances of works by Schubert, Faure, Brahms, and Bernstein. He has conducted college and community stage productions of L’Enfant et les Sortileges, Willy Wonka, Sweeney Todd, Grease, and Little Women. In his position at Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Dr. Saunders was the director of bands, including concert, athletic, and mariachi ensembles.
Dr. Saunders has appeared as soloist in multiple performances in his trombone concerto Homo sapiens trombonensis, and in his 40-minute work for unaccompanied trombone, Twenty Views of the Trombone, which received its first complete performance at Eyedrum in Atlanta in 2017, with excerpts performed in locations from New York City to Aspen, Colorado. He maintains a private trombone studio at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, Ohio, and also teaches composition to pre-college students.
Dr. Saunders’ music is published by Imagine Music and online at www.martiandances.com, and he has written articles for The Journal of Band Research, Music Educators Journal, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Society of Composers Newsletter, and The Instrumentalist. He is on the web at www.martiandances.com, but the physical Dr. Saunders lives in Willowick, Ohio with his wife Becky and their children Noah and Melia. He is a native-born Texan, but considers Columbus, Ohio to be his hometown.
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