Stearns Matthews is an American, New York-based

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

singer, recording artist, director, teacher, and pianist. He has performed throughout the United States as well as the United Kingdom.

Training

As a teenager, Matthews was a voice student of Linda Benanti (mother of

Laura Benanti Laura Ilene Benanti (née Vidnovic; born July 13, 1979) is an American actress and singer. Over the course of her Broadway career, she has received five Tony Award nominations. She played Louise in the 2008 Broadway revival of '' Gypsy'', winn ...

). He completed his undergraduate studies at

Westminster Choir College , mottoeng = Let us be judged by our deeds , established = 1926 , type = Private , president = Gregory G. Dell'Omo , dean = Marshall Onofrio , city = Dayton, OH (1926–1929), Ithaca, NY (1929–1932), Princeton, NJ (1932–2020), Lawrencev ...

. During his four years there, he sang in the Westminster Symphonic Choir and in ensemble and as a soloist with the esteemed Westminster Choir at such venues as Carnegie Hall,

Riverside Church Riverside Church is an interdenominational church in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on the block bounded by Riverside Drive, Claremont Avenue, 120th Street and 122nd Street near Columbia University's Mornin ...

, NJPAC, and

Spoleto Festival USA Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of America's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Du ...

under the batons of Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt,

Harry Bicket Harry Alexander Clarence Bicket (born 1961) is a British conductor, harpsichordist and organist. He is particularly associated with the baroque and classical repertoire. Bicket was educated at Radley College, Christ Church, Oxford, where ...

t, David Robertson, and Dr. Joe Miller. He graduated from Westminster Choir College in 2008 with a BM in

Music Theater Music theatre is a performance genre that emerged over the course of the 20th century, in opposition to more conventional genres like opera and musical theatre. The term came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to describe an avant-garde approac ...

Career

Matthews made his Manhattan cabaret debut in 2008 at the historic club Don't Tell Mama. His subsequent NYC appearances have included The Duplex, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Metropolitan Room,

Feinstein's/54 Below 54 Below is a cabaret and restaurant in the basement of Studio 54 in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Owned by Broadway producers Steve Baruch, Richard Frankel, Marc Routh and Tom Viertel, 54 Below has hosted shows by such performers as Patt ...

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is part of Lincoln Center in New York City. The organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center in October 2004. Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director and the leader of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orche ...

, and The Town Hall. He won two Manhattan Association of Cabaret Awards in 2015 (Best Male Vocalist and LaMott Friedman Award for Best Recording). He was a MAC Award nominee in 2009 (Best Male Debut), 2011 (Best Male Vocalist), 2013 (Best Musical Comedy Performer), 2017 (Best Male Vocalist), and 2018 (LaMott Friedman Award for Best Recording). His debut album, ''Spark'', also won the 2015 Bistro Award for Outstanding Recording. He has directed musicals in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia. He also maintains a private vocal studio, with students ranging from beginners to experienced professionals. Matthews is an active

Unitarian Universalist Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...

musician, serving as Director of Music Ministries at the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (MUUF) in

Morristown, NJ Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

. Previously, he has served as Assistant Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair. He also teaches musical theatre students at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

Albums

* ''Spark'' (2014) Matthews' debut album, ''Spark'', contains a mix of musical theater songs and

Great American Songbook The Great American Songbook is the loosely defined canon of significant early-20th-century American jazz standards, popular songs, and show tunes. Definition According to the Great American Songbook Foundation: The "Great American Songbook" ...

standards. ''Spark'' won the 2015 MAC Award for Best Recording as well as the 2015 Bistro Award for Outstanding Recording. It was produced by Paul Rolnick for Zevely Records, with music direction and arrangements by Christopher Denny. * ''December Songs'' (2017) In November 2017, Matthews recorded and produced the first-ever recording by a male singer of

Maury Yeston Maury Yeston (born October 23, 1945) is an American composer, lyricist and music theorist. He is known as the initiator of new Broadway musicals and writing their music and lyrics, as well as a classical orchestral and ballet composer, Yale Un ...

's contemporary song cycle

December Songs ''December Songs'' is a song cycle by Maury Yeston, best known as the musical theatre composer-lyricist responsible for the music and lyrics of ''Nine'', ''Titanic'', '' Phantom'', ''Death Takes a Holiday'', and part of '' Grand Hotel''. The work ...

. Commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Andrea Marcovicci in 1991, many recordings existed of the piece, but none with a male singer.

Personal life

Matthews was born in Hartford, Connecticut on June 23, 1984. His family moved in 1997 to Kinnelon, New Jersey where he graduated from

Kinnelon High School Kinnelon High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Kinnelon in Morris County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Kinnelo ...

. He graduated from

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

in 2008 with a BM in Music Theater. Matthews has served on the board of directors of the Manhattan Association of Cabarets since 2012. He currently resides in the greater New York City area.

Awards

* 2015 Lamott/Friedman MAC Award for Best Recording * 2015 MAC Award for Best Male Vocalist * 2015 Bistro Award for Outstanding Recording

References

External links

Stearns Matthews official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Stearns 1984 births Living people American cabaret performers American male pianists American musical theatre directors People from Kinnelon, New Jersey Unitarian Universalists Westminster Choir College alumni 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American male musicians