Matt Albert

Violinist and violist Matt Albert is the Chair of Chamber Music at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan. He previously served as the Director of Chamber Music and SYZYGY at the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University. He was a founding member of Eighth Blackbird, with whom he received numerous awards, including first prizes at the Naumburg, Concert Artists Guild, Coleman, and Fischoff Competitions, and three Grammy awards for their recordings on Cedille Records. He serves as the concertmaster for Nu Deco Ensemble and regularly plays as the violist with Alarm Will Sound. Previous collaborations include work with Seraphic Fire, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wilco, the Shreveport Symphony (as concertmaster), the Baltimore Symphony, and the Sarasota Orchestra (as associate concertmaster). In the summers he has mentored for Evolution: Classical and Evolution: Chamber at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and he plays principal second violin for the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.