studio V
private musical studio instruction
About Matthew Matthew J Viator is a composer, pianist, and vocal coach living in Washington, DC, with his partner, Khaled, and cat, Mercedes. Mr. Viator is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Christopher Theofanidis, Nicholas Maw, Shafer Mahoney, Corey McVicor, David Smooke, and Libby Larson. Mr. Viator has also studied with noted Pedagogue Gigi Reeks. In 2000, Mr. Viator composed and produced his first short Opera, The Joys and Sorrows of Beauvoir, for the last home and library of Jefferson Davis. The ensemble cast performed this work for both private and public audiences at the Presidential Library and MGCCC Theater. In 2003, Mr. Viator's Etudes for Piano were featured in recital at Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Hall in a concert of the students of Leon Fleisher. In 2004, Mr. Viator's 3rd Piano Concerto was premiered at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. The work was commissioned by NASA in commemoration of the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle. In 2005, Mr. Viator appeared in Theater Hopkins' Boy Meets Girl under the direction of James Glossman and opposite noted actor John Astin, in which he played the piano playing, bumbling studio composer Mr. Green. At this time, Mr. Viator's Piano Quartet was premiered at the Mount Vernon Methodist Church in historic Mount Vernon Square in Baltimore, Maryland. In 2006, Mr. Viator was chosen for the prestigious Opera Etudes program with the Peabody Opera theater while studying with the late British Composer Nicholas Maw. Mr. Viator's short Opera, Efstathios, was premiered by the Peabody Opera Theater to rave reception in the Spring, dealing with themes of forbidden love, and the freedom from oppression that love brings. Mr. Viator presented his Senior Recital at the Peabody Conservatory in April of 2008, where his first Piano Sonata, For Chuck Wells, was premiered along with selections from his ongoing opus of Sacred Music, Songs for Unitarian Fellowship, for unaccompanied choir. Mr. Viator's compositional style is influenced by minimalism, traditional jazz, modernism, and classical counterpoint. His work seeks to paint color with musical sound, achieve beauty and harmony, and fulfill contemplative spiritual ideals. Among his particular musical strengths, Mr. Viator is a skilled writer of Baroque Counterpoint, Russian Music and Analysis, and the Musicological study of the American Modernists, 1920 - 1950. Mr. Viator has a keen interest in post-Romantic French Music, particularly Ravel and Satie. Mr. Viator is also a noted guest preacher, having given sermons on Contemporary Christianity and on Music in Spite of Tragedy. Mr. Viator, formerly a member of the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, currently attends All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, DC. Matthew enjoys writing smaller scale works, particularly for chamber ensembles, currently working on a series of string quartets called Urban Sketches, and on a suite for Viola and Piano dedicated to his best friend and violist, Alexander Baldock, of Chicago. |
