Bio

Matthew Quayle is an American composer and pianist. He has received commissions and performances from ensembles including Akira Saxophone Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Almeida Theatre (London), Arditti String Quartet, Avalon String Quartet, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, The Brass Project, eighth blackbird, Janus, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Locrian Chamber Players, New London Children’s Choir, United States Air Force Strings, and the Westchester Symphonic Winds; and many soloists, including Deborah Andrus, Emanuele Arciuli, Claire Chase,  Lorraine Duso, Gail Levinsky, Jameson Platte, and Ashley Sandor Sidon. His diverse compositional output ranges from concert orchestral works to cabaret song cycles. 

Quayle released an album of his woodwind chamber music on Centaur Records in 2024. His three string quartets, recorded by the Avalon Quartet, were released Naxos in December 2018. The album Entr’acte, recorded with cellist Jameson Platte (featuring works of Chabrier, Cipullo, Debussy, Quayle, Rachmaninoff, and Webern), appeared on Albany Records in early 2019. His 2015 album of original solo piano music, Songs Without Words, was also released on Albany Records. He wrote the music and lyrics for the 2013 album Amazed By You, a collection of original cabaret songs commissioned by soprano Marian Murphy. 

Quayle has performed widely as a solo pianist and chamber musician. Recent piano performances include solo recitals of his original music at Middlebury College and NYU Abu Dhabi, recitals with the Omega Trio in Abu Dhabi and New York City, and performances at the Atlantic Music Festival of Bartók’s Rhapsody No. 2 with violinist Kyung-Sun Lee, Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata with Jameson Platte, and Chen Yi’s mixed quartet Qi. Other highlights include Mozart and Fauré piano quartets on the Sembrich Concert Series (Bolton Landing, NY) and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Skidmore Orchestra (Saratoga Springs, NY) under the direction of Charles Schneider. Quayle has also appeared in recital at Bar Harbor Music Festival, Glens Falls Symphony MusicBridge Festival, Kosciuszko Foundation, Merkin Concert Hall, Monmouth Conservatory, Montclair Art Museum, and NYU in New York. Quayle has collaborated closely with cellist Jameson Platte since 2005, sometimes joined by violinist Michael Emery (as the Omega Trio). He presented a solo Chopin program at the Winter Garden of New York’s World Financial Center in 2010, as part of the Chopin 200 Bicentennial Festival. He has worked in a staff or freelance capacity as a collaborative pianist at Hamilton College, New England Music Camp, Oberlin Conservatory, University of Cincinnati, UMass Amherst, and UNC Greensboro. 

Quayle is Composition Program Coordinator for the Atlantic Music Festival, held annually in the summer at Colby College in Maine. He is also an Affiliate Artist at Middlebury College, where he previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor in Music. Prior to moving to Vermont in 2023, Quayle taught for over a decade at NYU Abu Dhabi, where he was Associate Arts Professor of Music and served as Program Head of Music. He has also taught at New York University’s College of Arts and Science, Guilford College, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of Massachusetts Lowell, and New England Music Camp. A native of Waterville, New York, Quayle holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (B.M.), University of Cincinnati (M.M.), and New York University Graduate School of Arts and Science (Ph.D.).