An advocate of contemporary classical music, Hong-Kong-Chinese-Canadian composer and pianist Matt Poon promotes music of our time by creating, performing, improvising, and researching. His dedication has granted him awards and scholarships including first prize and prize for best performance of commissioned work in the Eckhardt-Gramatte Competition for Performance of Canadian and Contemporary Music (Canada Arts Council Prize), the American String Quartet Composition Competition, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra Open Call for Works Competition, and during his studies at the University of Toronto, Glenn Gould Composition Award, William Erving Fairclough Graduating Scholarship, and the Kathleen Walls Memorial Scholarship Fund. Matt is listed on cbcmusic.ca as one of the "30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30 in 2016". (www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/11704/30-hot-canadian-classical-under-30-2016) As the 2016 E-Gre laureate, Matt performed a solo concert tour across 10 cities in Canada promoting Canadian and International contemporary piano music, generously supported by the Canada Arts Council and the E-Gre Competition Foundation. Matt is the recipient of several Canada Council for the Arts grants and Ontario Arts Council grants, including the Chalmers Professional Development Project grant.
Valuing both tradition and innovation, Matt’s music is characterized by its expressivity, new sonic ideas focused on explorations of texture and timbre, as well as experimentations with large structure and proportion. He has been featured as part of the “Young Artist Overture” series by Soundstreams Canada, and as a composer-performer at the Stone (NYC). His string quartet Episodic Opposition written for the American String Quartet was premiered in New York, and was subsequently performed at their Chamber Music Society of Detroit Education Program Residency. His music has been premiered by the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, members of Tactus, performers at the Orford Arts Centre, and Kanata Winds, in venues such as the CBC Glenn Gould Studio, The Integral House, the Firehouse Space, the Stone, the MacMillan Theatre, the Borden Auditorium, and a number of recital halls in Canada, US, and Hong Kong. His music has been workshopped by the Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal (ECM+), TorQ, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Tactus.
As an active solo and chamber-ensemble pianist, Matt specializes in music from the early twentieth century to the presence. His exploration in the contemporary repertoire has gained him skills performing with fixed/live electronics, theatrical and improvisatory elements, and various extended techniques. As a former member of Tactus and the Contemporary Music Ensemble at the University of Toronto (gamUT), Matt has premiered works by Hong Kong composers at the Manhattan-Hong Kong festival, performed works by established American composers such as Paul Moravec, Bill Ryan, Paula Matthusen, Joseph Schwantner, and the Bang-On-A-Can composers, and worked under the direction of conductor Jeff Milarsky, Gary Kulesha, Wallace Halladay, and Norbert Palej.
Matt also has a passion for theoretical studies and completed a research project on György Ligeti’s construction and organization of rhythm, metre, tempo, and pitch in Etudes pour Piano (Excerpts), titled The Principle of Breakdown in “Chaos Theory” and “Fractal Geometry”. Matt has given a lecture-performance on the major influences and specific elements of selected Ligeti Etudes at the Manhattan School of Music.
Matt holds a Master of Music in Composition and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Matt completed his Bachelor of Music in Composition at the University of Toronto and holds the LRSM and ARCT. His major composition mentors have included Mark Stambaugh, Roger Bergs, Gary Kulesha, Brian Current, and Chan Ka Nin. His major piano mentors have included Anthony De Mare, Carol Ann Aicher, Christopher Oldfather, Midori Koga, Marjean Olson, and Jennifer K. Lee. Born in Toronto, Matt moved to Hong Kong shortly after birth and returned to Canada at the age of 14. He made his first public appearance at the age of 16 with the Esprit Orchestra where he composed sections of ‘tween by Ron Ford.
Matt has returned to Canada after his graduate studies and is currently launching his new private teaching studio in Markham. He is currently accepting new students, especially adult learners and amateurs, and remedial intermediate to advanced teenage students. Matt’s teaching philosophy is to encourage his students to study a balanced variety of repertoire and to be well-rounded and knowledgeable musicians through playing, performing, composing, improvising, music appreciation, and theory and aural skills training. For inquiries please contact Matt by the RCM Teachers' Directory (Matt Poon | The Royal Conservatory of Music (rcmusic.com)) or directly via email ([email protected]).
Valuing both tradition and innovation, Matt’s music is characterized by its expressivity, new sonic ideas focused on explorations of texture and timbre, as well as experimentations with large structure and proportion. He has been featured as part of the “Young Artist Overture” series by Soundstreams Canada, and as a composer-performer at the Stone (NYC). His string quartet Episodic Opposition written for the American String Quartet was premiered in New York, and was subsequently performed at their Chamber Music Society of Detroit Education Program Residency. His music has been premiered by the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, members of Tactus, performers at the Orford Arts Centre, and Kanata Winds, in venues such as the CBC Glenn Gould Studio, The Integral House, the Firehouse Space, the Stone, the MacMillan Theatre, the Borden Auditorium, and a number of recital halls in Canada, US, and Hong Kong. His music has been workshopped by the Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal (ECM+), TorQ, the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Tactus.
As an active solo and chamber-ensemble pianist, Matt specializes in music from the early twentieth century to the presence. His exploration in the contemporary repertoire has gained him skills performing with fixed/live electronics, theatrical and improvisatory elements, and various extended techniques. As a former member of Tactus and the Contemporary Music Ensemble at the University of Toronto (gamUT), Matt has premiered works by Hong Kong composers at the Manhattan-Hong Kong festival, performed works by established American composers such as Paul Moravec, Bill Ryan, Paula Matthusen, Joseph Schwantner, and the Bang-On-A-Can composers, and worked under the direction of conductor Jeff Milarsky, Gary Kulesha, Wallace Halladay, and Norbert Palej.
Matt also has a passion for theoretical studies and completed a research project on György Ligeti’s construction and organization of rhythm, metre, tempo, and pitch in Etudes pour Piano (Excerpts), titled The Principle of Breakdown in “Chaos Theory” and “Fractal Geometry”. Matt has given a lecture-performance on the major influences and specific elements of selected Ligeti Etudes at the Manhattan School of Music.
Matt holds a Master of Music in Composition and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music. Matt completed his Bachelor of Music in Composition at the University of Toronto and holds the LRSM and ARCT. His major composition mentors have included Mark Stambaugh, Roger Bergs, Gary Kulesha, Brian Current, and Chan Ka Nin. His major piano mentors have included Anthony De Mare, Carol Ann Aicher, Christopher Oldfather, Midori Koga, Marjean Olson, and Jennifer K. Lee. Born in Toronto, Matt moved to Hong Kong shortly after birth and returned to Canada at the age of 14. He made his first public appearance at the age of 16 with the Esprit Orchestra where he composed sections of ‘tween by Ron Ford.
Matt has returned to Canada after his graduate studies and is currently launching his new private teaching studio in Markham. He is currently accepting new students, especially adult learners and amateurs, and remedial intermediate to advanced teenage students. Matt’s teaching philosophy is to encourage his students to study a balanced variety of repertoire and to be well-rounded and knowledgeable musicians through playing, performing, composing, improvising, music appreciation, and theory and aural skills training. For inquiries please contact Matt by the RCM Teachers' Directory (Matt Poon | The Royal Conservatory of Music (rcmusic.com)) or directly via email ([email protected]).
