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About The Artist


Age five Age five
Matthew Weissman’s extensive performance career began at the age of fourteen, when he made his Carnegie Weill Hall debut as a winner of the AMSA World Piano Competition. Since earning that first winning title nearly five years after taking his first piano lesson, he has concertized in five countries, performed lecture-recitals in two states and holds eight first place titles in competitions.

He has performed at Steinway Hall, Greenfield Hall, the Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts, Colden Auditorium (New York), Auer Hall, the Wheeler Opera House (Aspen), Assembly Hall (Salt Lake City) the Gateway Theatre (Vancouver), National Theatre (Oslo) WWFM radio and the Hungarian Consulate at the United Nations, to name a few.

Age five Carnegie Hall Debut, Age 14
Matthew has received a number of top prizes in competitions throughout the United States, including the Young Pianist Competition of New Jersey and the Queens College Cultural Heritage Competition, and more recently has been a prizewinner in the Los Angeles Liszt Competition, and Grieg International Competition in Norway. Other awards include second place in the Baldwin Piano Competition, semi-finalist in the International Web Concert Hall Competition, and was also selected to represent the United States in the Cervantes Festival in Cuba and the Vladimir Horowitz competition in Ukraine. His participation and victory in the 1995 World Piano Competition was an event covered on CNN television. He has been honored and received scholarships from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, is the recipient of an Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music Travel grant as a winner of the 2010 People’s Choice Award and was named Salt Lake City Expositions 2012 Emerging Artist of the Year.

Invitation Performance; Hungarian Consulate at the United Nations, 2003 Invitation Performance; Hungarian Consulate at the United Nations, 2003
He has received special recognition for his interpretations of contemporary and romantic composers, Frederic Chopin and Franz Liszt. His playing of the latter, has received direct praise from some of the worlds premier Liszt masters and aficionados such as Leslie Howard, Jerome Rose and celebrated Liszt scholar and biographer Alan Walker, who has awarded him the Liszt prize in the 2006 Garrison Piano Competition followed by a invitational performance before Hungarian national leaders at the United Nations. Matthew is a two-time honorary member of the American Liszt Society and has performed in the Juilliard Evening Division with numerous invitations by Horowitz biographer David Dubal, and is on the artist roster of Podium International and Artistworld.

Laureate; 2010 Grieg International Competition, Oslo Laureate; 2010 Grieg International Competition, Oslo
Matthew has attended, participated in, and performed at the Aspen, Shandelee, and Tanglewood Music Festivals, and has been featured with the Cammerata Youth Symphony, in the Igor Stravinsky Memorial Concert, the Lillian Fuchs Memorial Chamber Music Concert, and the Tania Leon Contemporary Music Concert among others. In concerto appearances with orchestra he has been invited to perform as soloist with the Camerata Youth Orchestra and the America West Symphony under the baton of Roberta Kauffman-Stalzer and Joel Rosenberg.

Alongside some of the worlds great concert stages he has been seen at various centers, public libraries, and community venues throughout the United States. His concertizing has not been limited to the former, as his artistry has been featured in many humanitarian projects raising money and awareness for todays common causes. In the 2000’s his talent contributed toward hurricane Katrina relief, the Save Darfur organization and the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation collectively raising well into five figures; an effort has received direct individual praise and recognition from both local and state political leaders. In many of these community concerts he communicates aurally as well as musically with his audience, creating a enchanting and charming concert experience.

2011 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) and Presidential Scholars Gala - Miami 2011 National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) and Presidential Scholars Gala - Miami
From Rameau to Rzewski, Mozart to Messiaen, his repertoire reflects a complete comprehensive approach, and an unapologetic advocate of modern music he has received direct commendation from contemporary composers Emma Lou Diemer, Frederic Rzewski and Pablo Ziegler for his playing of their music. His programs include both familiar and often neglected works by composers of the standard repertoire, with special attention to modern music, as he regularly performs pieces by Shchedrin, Rzewski, Walker, Glass, Schnittke, Diemer, Muczynski, and Ligeti.

Thumbtack Inc. Symposium, Featured guest contributor 2018 Thumbtack Inc. Symposium, Featured guest contributor 2018
A native New Yorker, Matthew began his studies with Nina Svetlanova and Mark Pakman at the age of fourteen, and continued to study with them as well as chamber music studies with Ruth Laredo at Manhattan School of Music under merit scholarship from both the school and the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA). He earned his MM under the guidance of German Diez, assistant to the late Claudio Arrau. After completing his PD at Indiana University as a student of Andre Watts he earned his Doctorate working under Dr Susan Duehlmeier. He has also received training from Maria Clodes Jaguaribe, Herbert Stessin, Marc Silverman, Jeffrey Price, Heather Conner and Miyoko Lotto and has appeared in master classes with among others, Seymour Bernstein, Lillian Kallir, Luis de Moura Castro, Pamela Frank, and Sara Davis Beuchner. Dr Weissman has instructed at four colleges/universities and the Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, has given invitational lectures and adjudicated for the UMTA, UAMT, NYSSMA organizations as a strident proponent of arts/music education, and served as guest panelist and spokesman for the Thumbtack Corporation. Future projects include a commercial recording on the Albany label.