MATTHEW NIX + MAINE SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL ORCHESTRAS

Equally at home as a cellist, conductor, and music educator, Matthew Nix is a dynamic musical storyteller on today’s stages. A native of Flint, Michigan, Matthew currently resides in Chicago, Illinois. 

He has recently performed in recitals with pianist Steve Wogaman in Detroit and Christina Giuca Krause in Chicago; performed in the cello sections of the South Bend, Flint, Saginaw Bay, and Lansing Symphony Orchestras; and presented twice at the Michigan Music Conference, twice at the Illinois Music Education Conference, and twice at the National American String Teachers Association Conference in Atlanta. Matthew is the former cellist of the award-winning Trio Arvo, a clarinet, cello, and piano chamber ensemble.

Matthew is currently the Orchestra Director at Maine South High School in Park Ridge, Illinois and has served as orchestra director at high schools in Michigan and New York over the past decade. He is a former music director of the Youth Symphony Orchestra at the Community Music School of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Matthew’s cello teachers and mentors have included Suren Bagratuni, Anthony Elliott, Deborah Pae, and Julia Ford Edwards. He has participated in masterclasses with cellists Colin Carr, Tanya Lewinsky Carey, and Anthony Ross.

A graduate of the Michigan State University College of Music, Matthew holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in cello performance and music education, with honor. He is the recipient of the Bornoff Memorial Scholarship from the American String Teachers Association; the Valade Fellowship from the Interlochen Center for the Arts; and the New Directions in Music Education Fellowship from the Michigan State University College of Music. Matthew’s conducting mentors have included maestros Enrique Arturo Diemecke, Gary Lewis, Jeff Grogan, and Raphael Jiménez.