BIG BAND | BUDDY, MAYNARD AND BEYOND: THE MUSIC OF MATT HARRIS

Buddy Rich. Maynard Ferguson. The Rolling Stones. Stevie Wonder. What do all of these artists have in common? Much of their music was arranged and interpreted by writer and pianist extraordinaire Matt Harris! After learning the musical ropes growing up in the Cincinnati jazz scene, Matt went on to play piano and write arrangements for Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson and more before settling in Los Angeles for decades as an in-demand player, educator and writer. CCJO welcomes him back to Cincinnati for a celebration of his storied and eclectic career.

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Opening Act: Walnut Hills High School Jazz Orchestra, directed by Andrew Peoples​​

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Artist Profile: Matt Harris, composer and pianist

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Matthew Harris has had orchestral works performed by The Minnesota, Houston, Florida, Jacksonville, Chattanooga, Spokane and Modesto Symphony Orchestras; chamber works by the Lark Quartet, New York New Music Ensemble and League-ISCM; and vocal works by Sheryl Studer and Faith Esham.

 

His one-act opera, The Mark of Cain, was recently premiered by Chelsea Opera, and his three-act opera, Tess, was presented in part by The New York City Opera (VOX series), Lake George Opera Festival and Golden Fleece, LTD. His monodrama, As You Choose, was produced at the Southern Theater in St. Paul.

 

Mr. Harris's highly popular choral works have been commissioned or premiered by leading choruses such as the Dale Warland Singers, Phoenix Bach Choir, Los Angeles Chamber Singers, Western Wind and Cantori New York, and sung by countless school and community choirs across America. His “A Child's Christmas in Wales,” a cantata for chorus and orchestra commissioned by Harmonium, is performed throughout the US and UK.

 

Other commissions have come from the Fromm Foundation/Aspen Music Festival (where he was a guest composer), Verdehr Trio, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Haydn-Mozart Orchestra, American Composers Forum, Schubert Club and US-Mexico Cultural Fund.

 

G. Schirmer and CF Peters publish his scores, and Resonus Classics, Chandos, Albany, Cedille, MSR Classics and Opus One represent him on disc.

 

The National Endowment for the Arts twice awarded him a Composer Fellowship; the New York Foundation for the Arts, Tanglewood, Meet The Composer, The MacDowell Colony and Yaddo also awarded him fellowships. He has won composition awards from the Chautauqua Chamber Singers, Georges Enesco Foundation, Society for New Music, National Association of Composers, Musicians Accord, Diva Complex, Taubman Institute, ASCAP and BMI.

 

Mr. Harris studied at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory and Harvard University, and has taught at Fordham University and Kingsborough College, CUNY. In 1988, he founded Harris Musiciology. He currently teaches at Brooklyn College, CUNY and New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

 

Learn more at matthewharrismusic.com.