Matthew started playing violin in 1998, under the eye of Mark Mathias. He began private lessons the next year, and spent several hours at the JSO thereafter, participating in, and later co-teaching, Summer Strings. He also was a member of the Jr. Strings and JYSO. At the same time, he played in the orchestras at Parkside and Jackson High. When he was a H.S. senior, he was invited back to Parkside to guest solo with Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro.
While he was in these Jr. High and High School orchestras, he always dreamed of playing on the Potter Center stage. He never dreamed that one concert would include a bat flying around the auditorium, or that Maestro would return from that concert’s intermission with a tennis racket.