Guest Pianist to Perform at Benedictine College Sept. 24
Dr. Matthew Hill in Free Concert
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
The Music Department at Benedictine College is pleased to present Matthew Hill, DMA, pianist and Goshen College Professor of Music, in concert at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24, in O’Malley-McAllister Auditorium inside the St. John Paul II Student Center. Hill received a grant to fund a series of appearances at Catholic colleges and universities during the 2018-2019 academic year and chose Benedictine College as one of his stops. The program will feature several pieces by Olivier Messiaen and Franz Liszt. This program seeks to illuminate the connections that exist between music and faith. The concert is free and open to the public.
Hill has studied with such renowned musicians as Howard Karp and Claude Frank, whose respective pedagogical genealogies include Rosina Lhévinne and Arthur Schnabel. This past heritage of musical thought, in addition to his interests in monastic discipline and the role of silence in music, shapes and forms his pianism, his approaches to interpretation, and his teaching.
The ways in which music explores philosophical and/or theological subjects, as is especially evident in the music of Olivier Messiaen, is a significant research interest for Hill. He contributed “Faith, Silence, and Darkness in Messiaen’s Regard du silence” for the text Silence, Music, Silent Music (Ashgate Publication). He was an invited presenter /performer at the University of Kansas for their conference, “Couleurs dans le vent: Celebrating the Music of Olivier Messiaen” and his compact disk, Silent Colors, with performances of music by Liszt, Debussy, Messiaen, and Wild/Gershwin (Blue Griffin Label) explores unique connections between music, color and silence.
He has had a variety of teaching and performing experiences both nationally and internationally. Dr. Hill participated at the Schlern International Music Festival held in the Dolomites of northern Italy through invitation as a teacher, performer, and master class clinician. In China, he taught a series of master classes at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, and presented a solo recital. In Mianyang he presented a series of lectures concerning hermeneutics at the Southwest Institute for Science and Technology. He has been a guest presenter for IMTA and MTNA, and has also taught and performed at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, as well as at the nationally acclaimed Interlochen Summer Arts Camp.
Hill received his doctorate in piano performance at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is currently chair of the Music Department at Goshen College. He teaches piano, chamber music, music history and general education courses in opera and musical theater. Hill’s students have gone on to further graduate study at many different graduate schools, including the Kansas City Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Oklahoma, and many more.
