Matthew Ricketts (born 1986) is a Canadian composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

. He is a 2019

Guggenheim Fellow Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

as well as the recipient of the 2020 Charles Ives Fellowship from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headq ...

, the 2016 Jacob Druckman Prize from the

Aspen Music Festival The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado. It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music students. Founded in 1949, th ...

, the 2015 Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award, a 2013

ASCAP Foundation The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and eight prizes in the

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

Foundation's Awards for Young Composers. He lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Biography

Matthew Ricketts was born in Victoria, British Columbia. He attended

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

’s

Schulich School of Music The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after benef ...

, where he studied composition with

Chris Harman Chris Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of ''International Socialism'' and ''Socialist Work ...

Brian Cherney Brian Cherney (born 1942) is a Canadian composer currently residing in Montreal, Quebec. Cherney was born in Peterborough, Ontario. He studied at the University of Toronto where he was a pupil of John Weinzweig, Samuel Dolin, and John Be ...

, and John Rea. He earned a doctorate in music composition from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, where he studied with

George Lewis George Lewis may refer to: Entertainment and art * George B. W. Lewis (1818–1906), circus rider and theatre manager in Australia * George E. Lewis (born 1952), American composer and free jazz trombonist * George J. Lewis (1903–1995), Mexican ...

and

Fred Lerdahl Alfred Whitford (Fred) Lerdahl (born March 10, 1943, in Madison, Wisconsin) is the Fritz Reiner Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia University, and a composer and music theorist best known for his work on musical grammar and c ...

. He is currently a Core Lecturer at Columbia. Ricketts's music has been performed by the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra,

Esprit Orchestra The Esprit Orchestra is an orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that is dedicated to the performance of new orchestral works. It was established in 1983 by music director and conductor Alex Pauk, and is Canada's only full-sized orchestra de ...

, the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Emi ...

and the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orc ...

, as well as by ensembles and soloists including

JACK Quartet The JACK Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 2005 and is based in New York City. The four founding members are violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violis ...

, Quatuor Bozzini, the

Chiara String Quartet The Chiara String Quartet was an internationally performing professional string quartet based in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Group was the Quartet-in-residence at the School of Music in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the Blodgett Artists-in-R ...

FLUX Quartet The FLUX Quartet is an American string quartet dedicated to the performance of contemporary classical music. It was founded in 1998 and is based in New York City. The group is renowned for its performances of Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2, ...

, soprano Tony Arnold, and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM). He was Composer-Collaborator-In-Residence at

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its origi ...

from 2016 to 2018. In May 2017, the opening of Ricketts’s ''Highest Light'', a Montreal Symphony Orchestra commission, was performed by French astronaut

Thomas Pesquet Thomas Gautier Pesquet (; born 27 February 1978 in Rouen) is a French aerospace engineer, pilot, and European Space Agency astronaut. Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009, and he successfully completed his basic training in Nove ...

aboard the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

, in a live broadcast during the world premiere performance in Montreal. Ricketts's chamber opera ''Chaakapesh: The Trickster's Quest,'' with a libretto in Cree by

Indigenous Canadian In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider the ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Tomson Highway Tomson Highway (born 6 December 1951) is an Indigenous Canadian playwright, novelist, and children's author. He is best known for his plays '' The Rez Sisters'' and ''Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing'', both of which won the Dora Mavor Mo ...

, premiered in September 2018 as the opening of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's 85th season, and was followed by a tour of indigenous communities in

Northern Quebec Northern Quebec (french: le nord du Québec) is a geographic term denoting the northerly, more remote and less populated parts of the Canadian province of Quebec.Alexandre Robaey"Charity group works with Indigenous communities to feed Northern Quebe ...

. The tour was documented in the 2019 film '' Chaakapesh''.

Other works

Ricketts is also active as a writer, librettist, and poet. His operatic collaboration with composer Thierry Tidrow, ''Less Truth More Telling'', was produced in 2013 by the

Dutch National Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, a ...

and the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Nether ...

Selected works

Orchestral

* ''Adrift'' (2020) for clarinet and orchestra * ''Halo'' (2019) for two trombones and orchestra * ''Méloscuro'' (2018) for piano and orchestra * ''Blood Line'' (2017) for orchestra * ''Melodia'' (2017) for piano and orchestra * ''Flat Line'' (2016) version for orchestra

Chamber

* ''Ember'' (2019) for string quartet * ''Melodia'' (2016-2017) for piano solo * ''Highest Light'' (2016) for organ solo * ''In Partial View'' (2015) for string quartet * ''Flat Line'' (2014) for chamber ensemble of 15 players * ''Enclosed Position'' (2014) for alto flute, clarinet, string trio and piano * ''After Nine'' (2014) revised version for chamber ensemble * ''Winter Line'' (2013) for chamber ensemble of 14 players * ''Burrowed Time'' (2012) for chamber ensemble of 15 musicians * ''Still Burning'' (2011) for bassoon, bass trio, percussion and piano * ''Trio'' (2011) for clarinet, viola and piano * ''Graffiti Songs'' (2010) for flute, violin, cello and piano * ''Double Concerto'' (2007) for flute, clarinet and chamber ensemble

Vocal

* ''Chaakapesh: The Trickster's Quest'' (2018) opera in three scenes for orchestra, two singers and narrator * ''Unset'' (2017) for soprano and chamber ensemble * ''Fälscherlieder'' (2016) for six voices and four instruments * ''Song Cycle'' (2015) for soprano and chamber ensemble * ''Swallow Songs'' (2014) for high soprano and piano * ''Women Well Met'' (2013) for vocal sextet * ''No Masque for Good Measure'' (2012) opera in three acts for four voices and four instruments

Selected awards and grants

* 2020 Civitella Ranieri Fellowship * 2020 Charles Ives Fellowship in Music from the

* 2019

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

* 2019

MacDowell Colony MacDowell is an artist's residency program in Peterborough, New Hampshire, United States, founded in 1907 by composer Edward MacDowell and his wife, pianist and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. Prior to July 2020, it was known as the MacDow ...

Fellowship * 2016 Jacob Druckman Prize (

Aspen Music Festival and School The Aspen Music Festival and School (AMFS) is a European classical music, classical music festival held annually in Aspen, Colorado. It is noted both for its concert programming and the musical training it offers to mostly young-adult music stud ...

) * 2015 Salvatore Martirano Memorial Composition Award for ''Flat Line'' (first prize) * 2013

Morton Gould Young Composer Awards for ''Burrowed Time''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricketts, Matthew 1986 births 21st-century Canadian composers 21st-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century classical composers Canadian classical composers Canadian male classical composers Columbia University alumni LGBT classical composers Living people McGill University School of Music alumni Musicians from Victoria, British Columbia