Matthew McConnell (b. 1980)

Matthew McConnell holds a B.A. degree in music from Bennington College, and a M.M. degree in musical composition from the New England Conservatory of Music (with Academic Honors and Distinction in Performance.) He has finished all coursework required for his doctoral degree in musical composition at the New England Conservatory, and is currently A.B.D. His principal instructors have included Stephen Siegel, Allen Shawn, John Heiss, and Hollywood film orchestrator Erik Lundborg. He studied organ with Dr. Dwight Killam, as well as piano with Anne Cain, Jane Jenkins, and John Van Buskirk. He is a member of ASCAP and AGO.

McConnell co-founded "The Toyland Band", a Boston-based award-winning instrumental ensemble which specializes in performing arrangements of classical and popular music for children on no less than 28 diverse toy instruments. McConnell was the principal organist at St. Andrew's Episcopal Chapel in North Adams, MA for seven years, and former organist and choir director of the First Baptist Church in Cheshire, MA. He is the Minister of Music at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Malden, has been a guest organist at numerous churches throughout the commonwealth, and was a Teaching Fellow at the New England Conservatory of Music.

McConnell has been a Teaching Fellow at the New England Conservatory of Music. His numerous compositions include symphonic works, numerous concerti, incidental music for plays and various events, chamber music, works for solo instruments, and several songs. He is particularly fond of his Concerto for Toy Piano and Orchestra which was premiered in Boston in May of 2004. His choral music publisher is E.C. Schirmer.

Matthew McConnell