Wes Matthews

Wes Matthews was born in South Bend, Indiana and raised in Decatur, Illinois. He studied jazz trumpet as well as classical piano at DePaul University in Chicago. He then transferred to the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with composer and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer and earned his B.M. degree in jazz composition.  

Wes has attended residencies at the Wellesley Composers Conference and the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and participated in masterclasses with composers Chinary Ung, Scott Wheeler, and Henry Threadgill. As an improviser, Wes performed at the 2004 and 2005 Zeitgeist Piano Festivals, and has performed in the Modern Improvised Music series at the Artists-at-Large Gallery in Hyde Park, MA.  

Current projects include the launching of the Open Society Concert Music Series, a contemporary music series at the Middle East in Cambridge, in addition to the release of an album of duo improvisations with percussionist Bob Moses and the completion of a collection of contemporary American poem settings for chamber ensemble and voice. He is currently attending the New England Conservatory as a graduate composition student of Lee Hyla and pianist/composer Anthony Coleman.