Pictures at an Exhibition: From Dali to Mussorgky

Matthew Wardell is a dynamic conductor who brings boundless energy and compelling storytelling to every performance. Based in Washington, DC, he is known for his ability to unlock passion in live performances and create deep emotional connections with audiences. Wardell’s commitment to programming—recognized in 2024 when he won the Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Award in Orchestral Programming from The American Prize—spans from unearthing hidden repertoire gems and championing overlooked composers to presenting bold new works alongside the masterpieces of the canon. His performances are marked by what audiences describe as “unabashed enthusiasm” and “youthful energy,” with patrons regularly noting that “he and the orchestra never cease to amaze.”

Currently in his 17th season as Music Director of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra—which composer Michael Daugherty called the “hardest working orchestra in Florida”—Wardell has established himself as a sought-after guest conductor with recent appearances leading the Jacksonville Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Pittsburgh, the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, the New England Philharmonic, the Gainesville Orchestra, and the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra. When Matthew was appointed Music Director of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra, the Ocala Star Banner declared that “Wardell brings an impressive resume of musical and conducting training … Maybe more important than his musical credentials is Wardell’s youthful enthusiasm and unabashed zest … Wardell is not only a daring and dynamic choice as the Ocala Symphony Orchestra’s new conductor, but a smart one.”

On the podium, Maestro Wardell has conducted more than 520 works across 310 live performances. His repertoire encompasses core orchestral works from all periods, concerti for voice and nearly every instrument, extensive pops offerings, and film and multimedia works. He is particularly committed to the purposeful inclusion of underrepresented and living composers, having led world and United States premieres from composers such as Michael Daugherty, María de Pablos, Paul Richards, Stella Sung, and Jenni Brandon. Wardell has developed deep experience in live-to-film conducting, having led more than a dozen productions including upcoming performances of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Disney’s Aladdin in Concert.

From the opera pit, Wardell has led 19 staged productions of large-scale opera, musical theatre, and ballet works including La Boheme, Bartók’s Miraculous Mandarin, Così fan tutte, Sunday in the Park with George, Carmina Burana, A Little Night Music, and Sweeney Todd. His ability to rise to any artistic challenge was dramatically demonstrated when he conducted two performances of Puccini’s Tosca with only one day’s notice. Critics hailed the performances as “first-rate” and “inspiring,” calling his last-minute substitution a “magnificent feat … when the stakes were high, Mr. Wardell came through brilliantly and proved his mettle.”

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Wardell holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (2022) and Master of Music (2010) from the University of Florida, where he studied with his mentor Dr. Raymond Chobaz, and a Bachelor of Music cum laude (2007) from the University of North Florida, where he worked under Charlotte Mabrey. He spent five summers at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock, Maine, where he studied with renowned conducting teacher Michael Jinbo and was recognized as both an Osher and Quimby Family Foundation scholar. Wardell has participated in master classes with Keith Lockhart of the Boston Pops and studied with conductor and composer Peter WesenAuer in Salzburg, Austria. 

Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning composer Michael Daugherty has achieved international recognition as one of the ten most performed American composers of concert music, according to the League of American Orchestras. His orchestral music, recorded by Naxos over the last two decades, has received six GRAMMY Awards, including Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 for Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra and in 2017 for Tales of Hemingway for cello and orchestra. Current commissions for 2020 include new orchestral works for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Omaha Symphony and a concerto for violinist Anne Akiko Meyers who will give the world premiere with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center in 2021.

Michael Daugherty was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1954 and is the son of a dance-band drummer and the oldest of five brothers, all professional musicians. As a young man, Daugherty studied composition with many of the preeminent composers of the 20th century including Pierre Boulez at IRCAM in Paris (1979), Jacob Druckman, Earle Brown, Bernard Rands and Roger Reynolds at Yale (1980-82), and György Ligeti in Hamburg (1982-84). Daugherty was also an assistant to jazz arranger Gil Evans in New York from 1980-82. In 1991, Daugherty joined the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance as Professor of Composition, where he is a mentor to many of today’s most talented young composers. He is also a frequent guest of professional orchestras, festivals, universities and conservatories around the world.