Bio

Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz has been with the Canton Symphony Orchestra since 2017. He currently serves as Music Director Designate, as well as Music Director of the Canton Youth Symphonies program. Recent highlights with the Canton Symphony include "Magico", a concert of music from or inspired by the Spanish-speaking world of the Americas that featured live photo choreography by Nicholas Bardonnay. He also conducted Beethoven's 8th Symphony and Egmont Overture, along with Margaret Brouwer's Pulse, on the opening night concert of the 22-23 season, and led a memorable collaboration with Youngstown-based band The Vindys.

 

This past season, he led the Canton Youth Symphony Advanced Orchestra in Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919), the world premiere of Tyler Kowal's A Sojourn in Solace, a Shakespeare-themed concert featuring the music of Emily Rutherford, Dvořák, Walton, and Tchaikovsky, as well as major works of Coleridge-Taylor, Borodin, Mussorgsky, Rossini, and Márquez. In February of 2022, he conducted a performance of Sibelius’ 1st Symphony and Still’s Threnody in Memory of Jean Sibelius at the annual Ohio Music Education Association State Conference in Cleveland, where CYSAO was one of two high school full orchestras in the state invited to perform.

 

Matthew made his Severance Hall debut with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra in November of 2021 with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, and his Carnegie Hall debut in July 2018, conducting works by Fauré and Zach Gulaboff Davis at Weill Recital Hall. In 2019, he conducted the world premiere of Our Voices: Democracy Revisited by legendary jazz trumpeter and Oscar-nominated film composer Terence Blanchard. He was Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Apotheosis Opera in New York City, where he conducted fully-staged productions of works by Wagner, Puccini, and Strauss.

 

Matthew holds degrees from Brown University and Mannes College of Music, where he studied under David Hayes. He served as a Julius Rudel Conducting Fellow with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he received mentorship from Music Director JoAnn Falletta. He is a native of Cincinnati, where he attended The School for Creative and Performing Arts before graduating from Walnut Hills High School. He swam competitively for the Cincinnati Aquatic Club and continues to train and compete through U.S. Masters Swimming as a member of O*H*I*O Masters Swim Club. He is an active member of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, where he sings in the choir, serves as a co-chair of the church’s LGBTQ+ Ministry, and a member of the Congregational Life Mission Team. He is also an avid skier, cyclist, triathlete, hiker, and devoted baseball and football fan. He lives in Cleveland with his fiancé, Andrew, and their dog, Pappy.