Matthew Welch – CV  

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Regarded as “a composer possessed of both rich imagination and the skill to bring his fancies to life”, Matthew Welch’s collaborative spirit has brought him to work with experimental music staples Alvin Lucier, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Julia Wolfe, Zeena Parkins, and Ikue Mori. His third disc of his own music, Dream Tigers (Tzadik, 2005), containing his critically lauded string quartet, Siubhal Turnlar, made both Time Out New York’s classical and non-classical top-ten CD lists for the year 2005.

Mr. Welch’s compositions run the gamut from traditional-like bagpipe tunes to

electronic pieces, improvisation strategies and fully notated works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestras, gamelans and other non-western instruments. Mr. Welch’s works have been performed and recorded by Ethos Percussion Group, the maverick Flux Quartet, Hotel Elefant, The Orchestra of the S.E.M. Ensemble, Ostravska Banda (Czech Rep.), and Gamelan Dharma Swara. Additionally, he has received commissions from Iktus Percussion (2012-13), the Ethos Percussion Group (a 2008 Jerome commission), RedShift (2010), Transit Ensemble (2008), Percussia (2008), Dither Electric Guitar Quartet, Mr. Welch is an annually featured composer at the Jazzwerkstatt Berne, in Bern, Switzerland. Recent commissions include works for the percussion duo RADICAL 2, Ensemble Proton (Bern, Switzerland), and a new work commemorating the centennial of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for an equal-sized orchestra. Mr. Welch’s 2nd String Quartet (Cumha Na Marbh, 2013) was commissioned through The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival 2013.

As a virtuoso of the Highland Bagpipe, Mr. Welch studied traditional Highland

Bagpipe music with 6 Gold Medalist masters and two multiple-repeat World Pipe Band Championship winning Pipe Majors. Mr. Welch was a member of the six-time World Champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Beyond the traditional use of the bagpipe, Welch has pioneered new techniques and materials in his own works that include the bagpipe, and as an interpreter and collaborator, he has premiered a number of new compositions. Indonesian Gamelan percussion music, both Javanese and Balinese, have been another deep focus for Mr. Welch, as a part of the New York Indonesian Consulate gamelans, and in-field studies in Bali. Mr. Welch has also taken part in a number of collaborations with Indonesian Gamelan composer-performers in Bali and Java.

“The ensemble’s border-busting music is original and catchy,” the New York

Times has said of Blarvuster, an ensemble Mr. Welch formed in 2002. Mr. Welch’s breadth of interests in Celtic music, South-East Asian music, minimalism and other experimental music, improvisation and rock converge in amalgams composed specifically for his New York based ensemble. Matthew is co-founder of New York-based Experiments in Opera, a group debuting in January 2012 and producing experimental operas in various stages and allowing) have been met with critical acclaim. Recent opera Productions include his ReAnimator Requiem (2013), a choral opera/requiem mass, The Mutt, a radio opera, and Barbarella, a film opera. Matthew Welch 72 Mechanic Street, Floor 2 New Haven, CT 06511 646-238-4994 mwelchmusic@yahoo.com blarvuster.com