Dr. Matthew Phelps

 

Hailed by Nashville Public Radio as the city’s newest up and coming young conductor, Matthew Phelps is the music director of West End United Methodist Church.  At West End, Dr. Phelps leads one of the nation’s foremost church music programs, and conducts the nationally renowned 70 voice Chancel Choir in services and concerts.  Highlights of this past season included Vivaldi’s Gloria, the regional premiere of Conrad Susa’s Three Mystical Carols, and a critically acclaimed performance of Brahms’s Requiem which Walter Bittner of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra called a “deeply meaningful” performance.  This upcoming season includes a performance of Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 “Wachet Auf,”  John Tavener’s Two Ikons of the Nativity,  Poulenc’s Motets Pour un Temps de Penitence, and Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, along with a performance of Poulenc’s Organ Concerto with his associate Andrew Risinger as organ soloist.

Before his appointment in Nashville, Dr. Phelps was on the faculty of Xavier University where he conducted the Concert Choir and Women’s Chorus. He taught lessons in choral conducting, organ performance, and lectured on American Music. While on the faculty of Xavier, Dr. Phelps conducted Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary, and Debussy’s Sirenes.  He also prepared the chorus for performances of Carmina Burana with the Cincinnati Ballet, and Britten’s Spring Symphony with the College-Conservatory of Music.  Dr. Phelps additionally prepared the Concert Choir for performances at conventions of the Music Educator’s National Conference and the American Choral Director’s Association. 

Dr. Phelps worked in New York City for four years where he served as Music Director of the Reformed Church of Bronxville, NY.  While at the Reformed Church he was a finalist for the 2012 American Prize in Choral Conducting and the Chancel Choir of the Reformed Church of Bronxville was a semi-finalist for the Choral Performance Category.  He was the founder and Music Director of Women in Song in Cincinnati, OH which specialized in classical treble repertoire.  He was the chorus master of the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra where he prepared performances of Schoenberg’s Survivor from Warsaw, Verdi’s Othello, and a performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana of which Mary Ellen Hutton of the Cincinnati Post wrote “was beautifully prepared by its new chorus master.”  He has served on the staffs of the Cincinnati Boychoir, the Dayton Boychoir, and the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati.

As a concert organist, Dr. Phelps has played recitals throughout the nation and is a prize winner of the Rodgers North American Classical Organ Competition.  He has performed in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and has worked with acclaimed conductors such as Vance George, Jonathan Griffiths, and Judith Wiloughby.  Dr. Phelps premiered Dan Locklair’s Trumpets of Light which was written for him.  His performances have been broadcast on NPR’s international program Pipedreams and on Cincinnati Public Radio.   As a musicologist, Dr. Phelps’s new critical edition of Amy Beach’s Mass in E-Flat Major is being published by A-R Publications.  He is currently working on a new edition of William Croft’s Musica Sacra. 

Dr. Phelps received his degrees from Wright State University in Piano, and from the College-Conservatory of Music in Conducting.  He was awarded the David Davidson Fellowship in choral conducting by the College-Conservatory of Music, the Sandra Goldfarb award for outstanding musicianship by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra Society, and Wright State’s Outstanding Graduate Award.  He has studied conducting with Earl Rivers, Stephen Coker, and Mark Gibson.  He has done additional study with Rene Clausen, Jerry Blackstone, and has conducted in master classes with Dale Warland, Tom Hall, and Harry Christophers.