Dr Matthew Page Shlomowitz BMus, MMus, Doctorate of Musical Arts
Associate Professor of Composition, Head of Research (Music department)

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- Music for Cohabiters
Dr Matthew Shlomowitz is an Associate Professor of Composition in Music at the University of Southampton and Head of Research.
Since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, I’ve been writing bespoke pieces for cohabiters, often featuring unusual combinations of instruments and ability levels.
I grew up in Australia before going to California to complete a doctorate at Stanford University. I taught part-time at the Royal College of Music and the University of Durham before coming to the University of Southampton in 2012. I co-direct the new music ensemble Plus Minus.
I have recently had two new pieces receive their first performances: "Glücklich Glücklich Freude Freude", for keyboards and orchestra, was premiered by German Radio Symphony Orchestra at the 2019 Donaueschinger Musiktage; and "Graveyard Slot”was premiered by Ensemble Nikel at the 2019 Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik in Austria.
As winner of the Johann-Joseph-Fux opera composition prize, I composed a 70-minute opera titled "Electric Dreams", which was performed three times in the 2017 Musikprotokoll Festival in Graz, Austria. It was due to receive its second production in Geneva in April 2020 (a co-production between Grand Théâtre de Genève, Contrechamps and Theatre Am Stam Gram), which has been postponed due the COVID-19 lockdown.
A CD of my work performed by the Norwegian ensemble asamisimasa was released in 2018 on the All that Dust label. I have articles about issues relating to New Music, including “Where are we now?”, which was published in the UK journal Tempo in 2018, and “The Automaton Approach”, which was published in the German journal MusikTexte in 2016. In the past decade I have developed three projects: Letter Pieces, open score pieces combining physical action and music; Popular Contexts, which combine recognisable recordings with instrumental music; and a series of lecture-pieces addressing aesthetic issues, including Lecture About Bad Music.
From March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, I began on a new project, Music for Cohabiters, writing bespoke pieces for households, often featuring unusual combinations of instruments and ability levels.
Qualifications
- Doctorate of Musical Arts, Music composition, Stanford University 2003
- Master of Music, Music composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1996
- Bachelor of Music, Music composition, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, 1994
- Fellow of Higher Education Academy
- Represented composer by the Australian Music Centre
- Member of the Australian Performing Rights Association
Previous appointments
- Royal College of Music, Academic Professor (2008-2013)
- Durham University, Adjunct lecturer (2008-2010)
- In position at University of Southampton since 2012 (Associate Professor since 2015)