Matthew Hinsley
Tenor, Classical Guitarist
Always singing in one
form or another, by age six Matthew Hinsley also read music
on piano, violin and cello. He was ten when he began
studying classical guitar. For him, the guitar held magical
power and determined the direction of his life. As a high
school sophomore, Matthew enrolled at the Interlochen
Arts Academy in Michigan.
This international school was populated not only by students
and faculty but often by recruiters from all the major
American music conservatories. He was a student at
Interlochen for scarcely three months when the invitation to
study at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music arrived, leading
him to depart high school two years early.
A member of the guitar
faculty of the University of
Texas at San Antonio, Matthew
obtained his Bachelor of Music from Oberlin at age 20, and
his Master of Music two years later from the University of
Texas at Austin, where he also
completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in 2003. Matthew’s
primary guitar instructors were Stephen Aron and Adam
Holzman. A recipient of numerous performance-based awards,
and an active performer, he regularly gives concerts
throughout the United States. Dr. Hinsley has premiered
many new works, most recently a collection of five
songs written for him in 2002 by Jonathan Kulp on poetry of
Emily Dickinson. In his program notes for the Dickinson
songs the composer wrote: “Knowing Hinsley's considerable
abilities as a guitarist/singer, I felt free to write fairly
challenging parts for both guitar and voice with full
confidence that he could pull it off, and he does so with an
ease that takes one's breath away.”
Matthew has received many
foundation grants and significant private donations to run
concert series of international performing artists as well
as extensive community outreach programs. In 2000 he won
the Music Teacher’s National Association, Gibson Collegiate
Artist Guitar Competition and won Second Prize in the
American String Teacher’s Association National Solo String
Competition. With a strong interest in art history and
non-profit art organizations in America, he has published
four articles in Soundboard, the international trade
journal of the Guitar Foundation of America. His Doctoral
treatise is the first in-depth study of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s
ten-song cycle Vogelweide.
About his debut solo CD Live, in Austin, Michael
Barnes of the Austin-American Statesman wrote,
“Hinsley plays the classical guitar with rare clarity and
composure.” Hinsley’s second CD release, Two Muses,
was recorded with flutist Jennifer Rhyne. Passions Move,
Hinsley’s third CD, is his debut recording as a singer and
guitarist and contains the first commercially available
recording of Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Vogelweide. David
and Maria Russell, upon hearing Passions Move wrote:
“…wonderful recording. We heard the CD you gave us…and we
love it. You have a very beautiful voice. We are sure you
will be successful because what you do is pretty unique and
you do it really well… Congratulations!”
“Hinsley’s selections offered a personal look at the
performer, illuminating the artist’s warm sense of humor, easygoing demeanor,
expressive voice, and exceptional guitar-playing skills…Throughout the
evening, Hinsley played more than just the challenging dual roles of musician
and singer, he was a knowledgeable and inviting guide to a world of music that
is clearly close to his heart, and at which he excelled with a smiling grace.”
Robi Polgar, Austin Chronicle
“Hinsley plays the classical guitar with rare clarity
and composure…”
Michael Barnes, Austin-American
Statesman
“He cradled his classical guitar on his lap and without
introduction began to fill the space surrounding us with some of the most
beautiful music I’ve heard in a very long time… The Guitar’s strings
talked to us… and it was a peaceful, magical moment.”
Linn Woodard, The
Newcastle Weekly
PO
Box 49195 · Austin, TX · 78765
email:
m@matthewhinsley.com ·
Tel. 512.420.0542
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