Matt Dane, Viola
Violist Matthew Dane enjoys a career of both teaching and playing. Living in Boulder, Colorado, he is the newest member of the Boulder Piano Quartet and is on the faculty of both Metropolitan State College in Denver and the University of Colorado.
As a chamber collaborator, he has performed with the Colorado Quartet, the Dorian Wind Quintet, Houston-based CONTEXT, Athelas Ensemble (Denmark), the Fischer Duo, and members of the Brentano Quartet, among others. Chamber music festival appearances include OK Mozart, Portland (Maine), Chamber Music Quad Cities (Iowa), and Tanglewood. He and his wife Christina Jennings founded Brightmusic, a chamber music series in Oklahoma City. Currently playing in titled chairs of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Dane has held positions with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Houston Ballet Orchestra, Hannover State Opera (Germany), and Springfield Symphony (Massachusetts). With the Boulder Piano Quartet and Jon Manasse he has recorded quintets of Lowell Liebermann.
Teaching has long been a passion. Dane earned tenure as a Professor of Viola at the University of Oklahoma, and was previously a teaching assistant at both Rice University’s Shepherd School and Amherst College. He has also coached chamber music at several festivals, including Greenwood Music Camp and Musicorda. Dane was invited to teach at the 2005 International Viola Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland, and also adjudicated the 2005 Primrose Memorial Competition. In summers, he has taught at the Heifetz Institute (Wolfeboro, NH), Green Mountain Festival (Burlington, VT), and the Mammoth Lakes Chamber Music Workshop for adult amateurs. In 2008 he taught at Rocky Ridge Music Center (Estes Park, CO) and returned the Texas Music Festival (Houston, TX).
Principal teachers were Philipp Naegele, Hatto Beyerle, Wayne Brooks, Karen Ritscher, and Martha Katz. His Doctoral Document, which examines the teaching influence of Karen Tuttle, enjoys wide circulation among amateur and professional violists nationwide. Dane serves the viola community as Editor of the Journal of the American Viola Society.