Dr. Matthew McConnell (b. 1980)

Dr. McConnell holds a B.A. degree in Music from Bennington College, a M.M. degree in Musical Composition with Distinction in Performance (and Academic Honors) from the New England Conservatory of Music, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree from the same institution. His composition instructors have included Stephen Siegel, Allen Shawn, John Heiss, and Hollywood film orchestrator Erik Lundborg. McConnell studied organ performance with Dr. Dwight Killam, as well as piano performance with Anne Cain, Jane Jenkins, and John Van Buskirk. He is a member of ASCAP.

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, the former organist and choir director of the First Baptist Church in Cheshire, MA, and the former Minister of Music at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Malden, MA. He is the current Minister of Music at All Saints Episcopal Church in North Adams. McConnell been a guest organist at numerous churches throughout the commonwealth, and was a Teaching Fellow at the New England Conservatory of Music.

McConnell's dynamic compositional output includes symphonic works, sacred choral pieces, several concertos, incidental music for plays and 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