Matthew Lyons is a composer, performer, and arranger from Austin, Texas. He strives to write music that strikes a balance between audience-accessibility and complexity, and finds influence in jazz and popular styles as well as the classical canon. One of Matthew’s ongoing projects is to stretch the boundaries of the modern guitar repertoire, incorporating unique elements such as live-interactive electronics and unusual playing techniques.
Active in the local arts scene, his recent work “The Portal”, a song-cycle exploring the societal impact of the coronavirus pandemic inspired by Arundhati Roy’s essay “The Pandemic is a Portal”, received its premiere in March 2022 at the Draylen Mason Recording Studio through local arts organizations Density512 and Less Than 10. Other recent performances of Matthew’s work music include the May 2019 premiere of his “Guitar Concerto” with the University of Texas New Music Ensemble, a multimedia collaboration featured in the 2018 Ears, Eyes, and Feet concert series, and the electronically-conceived score for a student-produced play that was featured in the 2017 Cohen New Works Festival. The performance of his Concerto, featuring soloist Stephen Krishnan, was subsequently broadcast on the local radio station 89.5 KMFA for their Live from the Butler School segment. In 2015 his arrangements for guitar orchestra of several popular American songs were performed by the Austin Classical Guitar Youth Orchestra and the Conspirare Youth Choir at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin, and were broadcast live on local radio.
Matthew received his DMA in Music Composition from UT Austin in Fall 2021. In 2014 he received his BM in guitar performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where as a student Matthew went on to perform at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (2013) and Napa Valley’s Festival Del Sole (2011). He was a semi-finalist in the 2010 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition and was the second prize winner in the 2009 Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competition.