Sneak in a Window 8.9.08

Matthew Cmiel b. 1989, San Francisco, California

Matthew Cmiel is a composer, conductor, guitarist and enthusiastic advocate for new music. An occasional student of the ubiquitous John Adams, Cmiel currently studies composition at the Curtis Institute of Music with Jennifer Higdon, conducting with Edwin Outwater and guitar with Benjamin Verdery. A graduate of the Crowden School in Berkeley, California, the San Francisco School of the Arts High School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Preparatory Division Certificate Program, Cmiel is also the founder of Formerly Known As Classical, a new music ensemble entirely made up of and run by teenagers performing music written in their own lifetime.

Cmiel has received awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the American String Teachers Association (ASTA), the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Pacific Musical Society, and the Presidential Scholars Program. His music has been presented on the national public radio program From the Top and the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, and has been performed by the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Marin Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Del Sol String Quartet, the San Francisco Saxophone Quartet, the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Festival and the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra. He is currently working on commissions for the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Composer’s Inc., and the Crowden School.

For more information on Matthew Cmiel visit matthewcmiel.com