Matthew J. George is the John Ireland Distinguished Professor of Music, Director of Bands and Orchestras, and previously, held the Chair of the Department of Music for twenty years at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a past recipient of the Professor of the Year award at UST. In addition, he has held an appointment as Chair and conductor for the Music Education Center at Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China George holds a D.M.A. degree in conducting from the University of North Texas, a M.M. degree in music education from Southern Methodist University, and a B.M. degree in music education and trumpet performance from Ithaca College. George is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of Grand Symphonic Winds.
Dr. George is active as a conductor and clinician/lecturer which have taken him across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, across continental Europe, Ireland and the UK, India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, China, Thailand and Morocco. He maintains a busy schedule as a conductor in both professional and educational settings. He is also the founder and past Music Director of the Banda Sinfonica at the Escuela Nacional de Musica in Mexico City, Mexico. Appearing as a guest conductor throughout the world, he regularly works with professional orchestras and bands as well as festival groups of all ages. Some such groups include the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (UK), Brazilian Wind Orchestra, The São Paulo State Symphonic Band, Orquesta Ouro Preto (Brazil), Orquesta Sinfónica de Guanajuato (Mexico), the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain, Queensland Conservatorium Wind Symphony (Australia), Birmingham Symphonic Winds (UK), the Banda de Madrid, the Banda de Bilbao Musika (Spain), the National Symphony Orchestra of Paraguay, and the Band of the People’s Liberation Army (China). George has served as the Artistic Director of several international music festivals, including events held in England, Australia, and China in such prestigious venues as the Sydney Opera House, the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Dr. George regularly leads his ensembles to performances at major music conferences including those for the Minnesota Music Educators Association, the College Band Directors National Association, the Music Educators National Association and The Midwest Clinic. Under his direction, the UST Symphonic Wind Ensemble appears on the innova record label, distributed by Naxos with seven compact discs - Road to the Stars, Out of Nowhere, From All Sides, Persistence (How Very Close, Love and Hope, Duende), The Other Side.
Active as a clinician and lecturer, Dr. George regularly appears at music conferences throughout the world, including The Midwest Clinic, speaking on subjects of conducting pedagogy, the performance of wind literature and commissioning new music. He is sought internationally to sit on adjudication panels and has done so for such events as the National Concert Band Festival of Great Britain, the Chinese National Band Festival, the Shanghai International Music Festival, the St. Patrick’s Festival in Dublin, Ireland and the Certamen de Valencia in Spain.
Dedicated to the creation of new works, his credits of commissioned works by prolific national and international composers number over ninety and include talents such as Luis Serrano Alarcón, Kimberly Archer, Andrew Boysen, Nigel Clarke, Roger Cichy, Martin Ellerby, Gregory Fritze, David Gillingham, Ola Gjielo, Joclyn Hagen, Kenneth Hesketh, Ralph Hultgren, Timothy Mahr, Quinn Mason, Boris Pigovat, Chen Qian, Victoriano Valencia Rincon, Rolf Rudin, Philip Spark, James Stephenson, Frank Ticheli, Kit Turnbull, Dana Wilson, and Guy Woolfenden, among others. Many of these works can be heard on the recordings referenced above. A participating member in several professional scholarly organizations, he sits on the executive board of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles and has recently served as the chair of the New Music Committee for the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) as well as the CBDNA Young Band Competition. Additionally, he served as president of the North Central Conference of CBDNA.