Conductor Matthew Troy
Matthew Thomas Troy is entering his 3rd season as assistant conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony. He also serves as the music director of the Youth Symphony and the Winston-Salem Symphony’s education director. Troy has led the Youth Symphony to a higher level of artistic excellence and will open the 2010 – 2011 season with a world premiere. Maestro Troy is very excited to conduct the Winston-Salem Symphony on Pops, Discovery, Side-by-Side, Education, Holiday Pops, and Youth Symphony concerts throughout the 2010 – 2011 season. This year Troy will also begin his newest appointment as Education Conductor with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, where he will conduct the Discovery and Educational Concert Series.
Troy has previously held positions as conductor of the Fibonacci Chamber Orchestra, the Wake Forest University Orchestra, and the Salisbury Youth Orchestra. He has also served as assistant conductor of the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) Symphony Orchestra. Troy has led performances with many internationally renowned soloists, including Midori, Anthony Dean Griffey, Eileen Ivers, and many others. Last season, Troy led an inspiring performance by the Winston-Salem Symphony and the Messiah Festival Chorus of Handel’s Messiah in its entirety with only 12 hours notice.
Troy is a passionate advocate for orchestral music and music education. As a viola/ violin faculty member at the Music Academy of North Carolina, he received awards for teaching excellence. Troy is a frequent conductor/ clinician and has led numerous high school and middle school All-State and All-County clinics throughout North Carolina. In 2010 Troy created an innovative educational program that partnered the Winston-Salem Symphony with a San Francisco based non-profit organization call the African Library Project. This program, created in conjunction with the popular Mary Starling Educational concerts, used music and a corresponding short story competition to focus on the importance of literacy both locally and abroad. Through this program the Winston-Salem Symphony raised over 50,000 books to start 50 new libraries for schools in Botswana, while allowing three students in Winston-Salem the opportunity to receive new instruments and music lessons. This program garnered national attention, and Troy was invited to lead a presentation on the project at the 2010 League of American Orchestras conference in Atlanta. For this program Troy also received the 2010 Compassion In Action Award from the African Library Project.
Troy maintains an active guest conducting schedule and has led performances with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, the Carolina Chamber Symphony, Kensington Consort, the Philharmonia of Greensboro, Gate City Camerata, and the Triad Chamber Music Society. Troy has also competed in the Jordania International Conducting Competition.
Troy earned a bachelor’s degree in music at UNCG, where he also completed his master’s degree in orchestral conducting as a student of Maestro Robert Gutter. He also has studied at the prestigious Pierre Monteux School under Maestro Michael Jinbo and with renowned conducting pedagogues Maestro Gerard Schwarz and Maestro Kenneth Kiesler at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak.
In addition to his conducting engagements, Troy also keeps a very active schedule as a public speaker and is a member of the Conductors Guild, League of American Orchestras, and the Pi Kappa Lambda Honors Music Society. In his free time, he enjoys reading, studying new music, traveling, and singing.