Matt Swihart received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music in 1995 and his Master of Music degree from Rice University in 1998. At Rice University, he studied under the late Armando Ghitalla, Principal Trumpet Emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and world-renowned pedagogue. Matt has been a Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festival and at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where he performed under conductors including Seiji Ozawa, Christoph Eschenbach, Mitislav Rostropovich, Robert Spano and Andre Previn. He has performed with the United Nations Global Warming Conference Orchestra and the Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Northwest Sinfonietta, Village Theatre, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Sacramento, Monterey, and Cincinnati Opera and Ballet Orchestras. Matt has performed at St. James and St. Mark's Cathedrals in Seattle.
During the 2000-2001 academic year Matt completed the course work toward a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at SUNY Stony Brook, but left that program to study on a Fulbright Grant in Germany from 2001 - 2003. There he studied with Max Sommerhalder and performed with the Munster Symphony, the Bielefeld Orchestra, and the Detmold Chamber Orchestra.
Matt is the managing member of the Mosaic Brass Quintet. He is also a member of the Lyric Brass Quintet, the faculty brass ensemble at Pacific Lutheran University. Matt serves as an adjunct trumpet professor at Pacific Lutheran University and maintains a private trumpet studio in Seattle comprised of students ranging from young beginners to serious amateurs and college music majors.
Matt moved to Seattle in late 2003 to join his lovely wife Maya who is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Washington.
Matt is originally from Goshen, IN.
