Matthew Harrison

Matthew Harrison graduated from Amity Regional Senior High School (Woodbridge, CT) before attending James Madison University (Harrisonburg, VA) for his undergraduate degree in piano and music education.  He then went on to earn his M.M. from the New England Conservatory (Boston, MA) in voice performance.

Matt is the President of the Connecticut chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and has served on the Connecticut Music Educators Association (CMEA) executive board as the Membership Chair.  In his current position in CMEA, Vocal Czar, he helped to revolutionize the adjudication process for high school singers across the state.  Matt chairs both the Southern Regional Treble Honor Choir and the All-State Mixed Honor Choir.  His focus in these professional organizations has been to champion underrepresented factions of musicians in Connecticut and facilitate access and equity for all students.

In 2018 he became the first choral artist to be granted a National Park Artist-In-Residence position (Glacier National Park, Montana) and earned the distinction of Connecticut ACDA’s Choral Director of the Year, culminating in the first published choral work created specifically for a national park (Glacier Suite, Pavane Publishing).  Matt is currently working on a book to help students build music literacy fundamentals called, “The Gravity of Solfege,” which will hopefully be in print by 2022.  

Matt has been the choir director at Hamden Hall Country Day School since 2014. He also serves as the organist and choir director at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Cheshire, CT. Matt has been a member of Actors’ Equity Association since 2005, writing original musicals and performing leading roles for touring union companies.  Matt has been the director and music director of Madison Beach Club Follies (a musical review running for 85 years) since 2017.