Matthew was awarded a 2020 Oconomowoc Festival of the Arts Fine Arts Scholarship. Matthew comes from a musical family and grew up surrounded by music. He learned from a young age that music brings with it an overwhelming sense of community. It has a fantastic ability to bring people together. He stated “…in a world where it seems impossible to reach people stuck in social media or elsewhere, music can make people feel something. Music can make someone feel any emotion or every emotion at once; music has the power to reach everyone.”
Matthew has been studying trombone with Megumi Kanda, principal trombonist of the Milwaukee Symphony, for the last three years. As a result of his commitment and consistent practice, he was selected as a trombone player for the Oconomowoc High School Wind Symphony for the last 3 years. He is also first chair trombone with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra Senior symphony.
Academically, Matthew was a member of the National Honors Society, Spanish Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society and was given a Milwaukee Brewers Achiever Award three times.
As he prepares to attend university, Matthew reiterates that “I will never stop performing music. There is a certain magic about music that no other activity, or possible career, can match.” Matthew will attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall to study Trombone Performance and Psychology.