Matthew Cox

Head of Strings Department

Matthew Cox has a Bachelor of Musical Arts in Viola Performance from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Professor George Taylor. Matthew was also a recipient of the Kaufmann Entrepreneurial Year Scholarship from the University of Rochester, developing a gestural musical instrument with collaborators from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) that was eventually selected for presentation at the 2016 ACM Interactive Surfaces and Spaces conference.

As a young man in El Paso, Texas, Matthew started taking piano lesson at age 6, and then began studying viola with Guillermo Quezada (principal violist, El Paso Symphony Orchestra) at age 10. When his family moved to Colorado in 2007, he became a student of Basil Vendryes (principal violist, Colorado Symphony Orchestra) As a classical musician, Matthew has performed professionally as a soloist, as a chamber musician, and in a variety of orchestral and mixed-ensemble settings. Alongside his exploration of classical music, Matthew is a singer-songwriter and has been a vocalist for pop, rock, soul, and funk bands. He has also presented countless educational outreach concerts for audiences of all ages as a member of the Evander String Quartet and as a member of the Sound Exchange Project.

In addition to his lifelong study of music, Matthew has worked in education, as a mental health professional, and as an organic vegetable farmer. He is absolutely thrilled to join the faculty at the Avanti Music Academy, encouraging his students to grow as musicians and as human beings.