Matthew W. Mehaffey
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Matthew Mehaffey is assistant professor of music and the associate director of choral activities at the University of Minnesota, where he conducts the Concert Choir and the Men's Chorus and teaches graduate courses in choral conducting and literature. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he holds degrees from Bucknell University (B.M. in Music Education), Westminster Choir College (M.M. in Choral Conducting) and the University of Arizona (D.M.A. in Choral Conducting and Historical Musicology). He has also completed additional study in conducting at Lehrgang für Chorleitung und Stimmbildung in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Dr. Mehaffey has studied conducting with Drs. Bruce Chamberlain, Joseph Flummerfelt, Volker Hempfling, James Jordan and William Payn.
Prior to his appointment at the University of Minnesota, Mehaffey served as director of choral activities at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Under his leadership, the GW Chamber Choir completed two international tours, appeared on national television four times, and performed at some of Washington�fs finest venues. He also taught courses in music theory and musicianship.
As a conductor, Dr. Mehaffey has prepared choirs for the concert hall, the opera house, and for radio and television programs. Recent engagements include chorus master for Washington National Opera's world premiere production of Democracy and Turner Network Television's holiday special Christmas in Washington, as well providing music for Air America Radio's show "The O'Franken Factor."
As an author, he has co-authored the GIA Publications series Choral Ensemble Intonation: Method, Procedures, and Exercises with James Jordan of Westminster Choir College. This series provides conductors with an innovative method for attacking the problem of choral intonation. In summer 2006 he presented a workshop on this topic at the International Society for Music Education in Kuala Lumpur, Malyasia. His latest project Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir, co-edited with Heather Buchanan of Montclair State University, features chapters by some of America�fs most respected choral conductors as well as repertoire resource guides of over 100 pieces of choral literature. Volume 2 of Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir will be released in 2006.
He currently serves the Minnesota chapter of the American Choral Director's Association as the repertoire and standards chair for college and university choirs, and is a founding board member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. Dr. Mehaffey was recently awarded The McKnight Summer Fellowship Grant to create a staged musical adaptation of the epic poem John Brown's Body with composer Roger Ames and stage director Leslie Jacobson. He lives with his wife Libby in downtown Minneapolis, MN.