Matthew Peterson
Matthew Peterson is an American composer whose music has been described as “truly beautiful” (Washington Post), “startlingly immediate” (Wall Street Journal), and “gritty, colorful, often profane and clearly true-to-life” (Opera News). His vivid, emotionally charged works span socially resonant operas, expansive orchestral music, virtuosic chamber works, and shimmering choral pieces. His music has been performed by leading ensembles including the Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, Swedish Radio Choir, and Eric Ericsons Chamber Choir.
From 2024 to 2026, Peterson serves as Composer-in-Residence with Dalasinfoniettan in Sweden, culminating in the 2026 world premiere of his Second Symphony, co-commissioned with the Swedish Radio Choir. Other recent and upcoming premieres include You Are My Hiding Place for Carolinae Röster, Gajanis Eko with Sara Ajnnak, a horn trio for Ben Goldscheider, Callum Smart, and Richard Uttley, Creatures Wild and Lonely for saxophonist Theo Hillborg, and a percussion concerto for Gränslandet Symfonisk Fest. His collaborative projects span dance, film, and pop, including co-compositions and orchestrations for Moonica Mac, Erik Lundin, Kleerup, Sirintip, and Mariam the Believer.
Peterson’s work is marked by a wide expressive range—humor and darkness, grandeur and fragility—and a keen attention to social and emotional realities. His opera Voir Dire, based on real courtroom transcripts, was released as an original-cast album in 2020 on RedHouse to international acclaim. Other recordings include In Paradisum with Sofia Vokalensemble, Light Fields with Uppsala Vokalensemble, and Smooth Fat Nasty, a portrait album of his saxophone music with Stockholm Saxophone Quartet. His upcoming mass Högalidsmässan, for choir and chamber orchestra, will be released in 2025.
His many honors include the 2024 Musikförläggarnas Pris (Swedish Music Publishers’ Award), the ASCAP Nissim Prize, the Sven-David Sandström Award, the Carin Malmlöf-Forssling Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and the Fort Worth Opera Frontiers Prize. He has received support from Fulbright, STIM, Kulturrådet, and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee, and his work has been presented at festivals across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the U.S. His music is published by Gehrmans, Edition Skellton, Hinshaw, and Svensk Musik.
For new commissions, performance inquiries, curatorial opportunities and appearances please contact Owen Summers: owen@summersartistservices.com
Works
-
Horn Trio: Winning Isn’t Everything It’s the Only Thing (2023) | vln hn pno | 12:00
Lacrimae Rerum (2023) | cello duo | 4:00
Lament for Sven-David Sandström (2020) | saxophone quartet | 6:00
Dance Party Playlist (2019) | saxophone quartet | 22:00
Vingar, virvlar (2018) | sop & ten sax | 4:30
January (2016) | string trio | 5:00
Badlands (2013) | string quartet | 13:00
Mass (2012) | soprano and percussion | 13:00
Empire Builder (2012) | fl pno vln vc | 4:00
-
Agnus Dei (2025) | SATB | 5:00
Stenarna (2025) | SATB | 5:00
You Are My Hiding Place (2023) | SSAA,| 6:00
Högalidsmässan (2023) | Oratorio | SATB, 0000/2200/1perc/organ/strings | 45:00
An Inner Sky (2022) | SATB | 18:00
l(a leaf falls)oneliness (2022) | SMATBB | 3:30
! o(rounD)moon (2022) | SATB | 5:30
Behold, I make all things new (2021) | SATB | 5:00
Non Nobis (2020) | SATB | 4:00
Salve Regina (2020) |MATBB | 6:30
And lo, a great multitude… (2020) | SATB double chorus | 8:00
In the Beginning (2020) | SATB and organ/sax quartet | 6:00
Adoramus Te (2018) | SMATBB | 4:00
Ave Maris Stella (2018) | SATB | 6:30
Cantate Domino (2018) | SATB | 6:00
Ljusfälten/Light Fields (2018) | SATB | 17:00
sommar i bergen (2018) | SATB & nyckelharpa | 5:00
Lux Aeterna (2017) | SATB double chorus | 14:00
Surgit Dorpatum (2015) | SSAA | 10:00
-
Symphony No. 2: The Wanderers (2025)
for Choir & Chamber OrchestraOrchestration: SATB—2.2.2.2—2.2.0.0—1 perc—Str
Duration: 50 minutes
Premiere: March 21, 2026, Swedish Radio Choir and Dalasinfoniettan with conductor Claire Levacher, Stockholm, SwedenA sweeping choral-orchestral journey through metaphors of early middle age—spiritual searching, parenthood, toil, and transformation. Drawing on fragments of Swedish poets Dan Andersson and Gustaf Fröding (in English translation), each movement inhabits a vivid landscape: forest, field, forge, and lake, offering a universal meditation on life’s passage. commissioned by Musik i Dalarna with support from the Swedish Arts Council, for the Swedish Radio Choir and the Dalasinfonietta as part of Peterson’s assignment as Dalasinfonietta Composer-in-Residence.
Vagabond (2024)
for Chamber OrchestraOrchestration: 2.2.2.2—2.2.0.0—Perc—Str
Duration: 11 minutes
Premiere: September 7, 2024, Dalasinfoniettan with conductor Claire Levacher, Falun, SwedenA restless overture in three vivid sections, this piece veers from danger to funk to wistful lyricism before returning to its urgent, driving core. It channels the freedom and solitude of the outsider, weaving together personal and musical journeys with echoes of Beethoven and 90s alternative rock. Commissioned by Musik i Dalarna to open the Dalasinfonietta’s 2024-25 concert season, Matthew Peterson’s first as 24-26 Composer-in-Residence.
Högalidsmässan (2023)
for Mixed Choir & Chamber OrchestraText: Gunilla Lindén (Swedish)
Orchestration: 0.0.0.0—0.2.2.0—Perc—Org—Str
Duration: 45 minutes
Prermiere: May 8, 2025, Falu Chamber Choir and Dalasinfoniettan with condutor Cecilia Rydinger, Falun, SwedenCommissioned for the centenary of Högalid Church in Stockholm, this expansive and emotionally resonant Mass blends rhythmic vitality and luminous harmony in a deeply accessible sacred work. Celebrated with the 2024 Lilla Christ Johnson Prize, it offers new life to the Mass tradition and a powerful invitation to Sweden’s church choirs.
Four Northern Visions (2022)
Suite for OrchestraOrchestration: 3.3.3.3—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 15 minutesAurora (2022)
Orchestration: 3.3.3.3—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 5.5 minutesSymphony No. 1: The Singing Wilderness (2021)
Orchestration: 3.3.3.3—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 40 minutesThe Loons of Lac La Croix (2021)
from Symphony No. 1Orchestration: 3.3.3.3—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 5.5 minutesThe Way of a Canoe (2021)
from Symphony No. 1Orchestration: 3.3.3.3—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 3.5 minutesNewborn Glimmer (2019)
Orchestration: 3.3.3.3—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 5.5 minutesTumult and Flood (2016)
for SinfoniettaOrchestration: 1.1.1.1—1.1.1.1—2 Perc—Pf—Str (1.1.1.1)
Duration: 17.5 minutesCorde Natus (2014)
Orchestration: 2.2.2.2—4.3.3.1—Timp—3 Perc—Str
Duration: 6 minutesAnd all the trees of the field will clap their hands (2013)
for Chamber OrchestraOrchestration: 2.2.2.2—2.2.0.0—Timp.1 Perc—Str
Duration: 11 minutesDawn: Redeeming, Radiant (2012)
Orchestration: 2.2.2.2—4.3.3.1—Timp.3 Perc—Hp—Str
Duration: 4.5 minutesReflections on the Death of the Beloved (2009)
for Symphonic BandDuration: 15 minutes
-
Voir Dire (2012 / rev 2016, 2023)
Chamber OperaLibretto: Jason Zencka
Orchestration: Sop, Mezz-Sep, Ten, Bar, BBar—1.0.1.0—0.0.0.0—2 Perc—Pf—Str
Duration: 86 minutesA courtroom opera adapted from writer Jason Zencka’s experiences as a reporter on the courthouse beat in Stevens Point, Wisconsin in the late 2000s, with music composed in 2008-9 by the award-winning composer Matthew Peterson. From 2010-12 the creative team endured the cancellation of three separate planned productions in Sweden and the US. After winning first prize at the 2014 Fort Worth Frontiers Festival and subsequent workshops at the Seagle Music Colony, a revised version of the opera was produced in 2017 to international critical acclaim at Fort Worth Opera, with stage direction by David Gatelyand music direction by Viswa Subbaraman.
Voir Dire “drills unsentimentally into the tragedies of ordinary people...Its power lies in how believably it conveys their emotions.” (Opera Now). This unique courtroom opera is “startlingly immediate and journalistic, as gripping as a great feature story. and made memorable by the depth and texture of the music” (Wall Street Journal).
Lifeboat (2016)
Chamber OperaLibretto: Emily Roller
Orchestration: Sop, Mezz-Sop, Bar—1.1.1.1—1.1.1.0—Perc—Pf—Str (1.0.1.1)
Duration: 25 minutesThe Binding of Isaac (2006)
Chamber OperaLibretto: Jason Zencka
Orchestration: Sop, Mezz-Sep, Treble, Bar, Small SATB Choir, Hn, Perc, Hp, String Quartet
Duration: 40 minutes -
Creatures Wild and Lonely (2024) tenor saxophone | 7:00
Progressive Waves (2023) | cello and electronics | 6:11
Shamans of the Digital Wasteland (2021) | frame drum and electronics | 9:37
To the Firmament (2020) | organ | 7:00
Laud (2020) | organ | 15:00
polska plska pla (2019) | piano | 3:30
The baddest girl on the mountain (2019) | alto saxophone | 5:00
Koraconnes (2019) | cello | 7:00
smooth fat nasty (2017) | baritone saxophone | 7:30
Peregrinations (2017) | guitar | 17:00
Huldra (2014) | marimba | 6:00