Trombonist Matthew Russo joins UConn faculty, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra
Matthew Russo '12 MM will join the University of Connecticut faculty in the 2015–2016 academic year as an instructor of trombone. Russo was also recently appointed principal trombone with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra.
Russo currently serves on the faculty at The Hartt School Community and Instrumental Studies divisions, where he is director of the Hartt Trombone Ensemble.
About Matthew Russo
Trombonist Matthew Russo has a diverse career as an educator, freelancer, and advocate of new music. Most recently he was appointed Instructor of Trombone at the University of Connecticut and Principal Trombone of the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra. Russo is on faculty at The Hartt School Community and Instrumental Studies divisions, where he is director of the Hartt Trombone Ensemble. He previously served as Director of Bands in the Lower School at Hamden Hall Country Day School and as teaching artist of the Yale Music in Schools Initiative. He also was on faculty at the Morse Summer Music Academy at the Yale School of Music.
Russo is Principal Trombone with the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra and has appeared with the Hartford, New Haven, Waterbury, Wallingford, and Greater Bridgeport Symphony orchestras, as well at the Ivoryton, Monomoy, and Hartford Stage theatre companies. Russo has premiered over a dozen new works, many of which were written explicitly for him or his ensembles. In 2011 Russo founded the Contemporary Trombone Repertory Project, an endeavor to commission the world’s greatest composers to write new works for the trombone.
He is two-time winner of the Paranov Concerto Competition and was a finalist in the 2012 International Trombone Association Alto Trombone Competition. Russo has been a member of many successful chamber ensembles, including the Excalibur Brass Quintet (2010–2013) and the West End Brass Quintet (2008–2011). As a soloist, Matthew has prepared innovative recitals on themes of war, music of the circus, and unaccompanied trombone repertoire as a means of self-examination in a digital age.
Russo is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at The Hartt School, where he studied with John Rojak. He earned his Master of Music degree at the Yale School of Music, where he studied with Scott Hartman. He received his B.M. in Trombone Performance and Music Education at The Hartt School, where he studied with Dr. Ronald A. Borror.
