BIO

“Truly beautiful” (The Washington Post), “startlingly immediate” (Wall Street Journal), “darkly brilliant” (Classical Review) and “gritty, colorful, often profane and clearly true-to-life” (Opera News), composer Matthew Peterson moves dynamically between bold, socially-relevant contemporary operas, vast orchestral works celebrating a great and powerful natural world, playful and virtuosic solos, and shimmering, innovative choral works.  

Peterson’s music contains multitudes: seriousness, humor, power, tenderness, wilfulness - the grand and sublime as well as the fragile and delicate. His music has been commissioned and performed around the world by leading ensembles including the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, the Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericsons Chamber Choir, and Stockholm Saxophone Quartet.

CURRENT ACTIVITY

From 2024-2026 Peterson is Composer-in-Residence with Dalasinfoniettan in Falun, Sweden. Since 2020 he has received commissions from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Choir, Vattnäs Opera, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Gränslandet Symfonisk Fest, Musik i Syd, Dalasinfoniettan, Carolinae Röster, Högalidskyrkan, Relativ Dansproduktion, Lund Choral Festival, Stockholm Saxophone Quartet, Gustaf Sjökvists Kammarkör, Sofia Vokalensemble, saxophonist Theo Hillborg, organist Daniel Larsson, and percussionist Magdalena Meitzner. As co-composer and orchestrator he has collaborated with performing and recording artists Moonica Mac, Kleerup, Erik Lundin, Molly Hammar, Sirintip Phasuk, Parham, Sara Ajnnak, and Mariam the Believer.

Recent and upcoming premiere performances include the March 21-22 2026 world premiere of Peterson’s Symphony No. 2 — The Wanderers with Dalasinfoniettan and the Swedish Radio Choir, the April 14-23 2026 production of Christina Tingskog’s dancework Otroligt avlägset men extremt Nu, the July 2026 production of the opera Anders och Emma Zorn at Vattnäs Konsertlada, the October 2026 premiere of the German-language version of The Sanctuary Mass with Gustaf Sjökvists Kammarkör and Mitteldeutsche Rundfunk Orchestra at Thomaskirche in Leipzig, the May 2027 premiere of a new work for Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the spring 2028 premiere of a percussion concerto for Adelaide Ferriere and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

Peterson’s recordings include the internationally-acclaimed original-cast album of the opera Voir Dire (RedHouse, 2020), In Paradisum with Sofia Vokalensemble featuring Cantate Domino (Footprint, 2019), Light Fields with Uppsala Vokalensemble (Footprint, 2020), Smooth Fat Nasty, the portrait album of Peterson’s complete saxophone works with Stockholm Saxophone Quartet (European Gramophone, Dec 2021), My Hiding Place with Carolinae Röster (2026), and the September 2026 release of The Sanctuary Mass (Högalidsmässan) with Gustaf Sjökvists Kammarkör.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

Peterson’s numerous awards include the Christ Johnson Lilla prize from the Swedish Royal Academy of Music for Högalidsmässan (The Sanctuary Mass), the Musikförläggarnas Pris (Swedish Music Publishers’ Award) for An Inner Sky, Carin Malmlöf-Forssling Composer Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, the Sven-David Sandström Award for Choral Composition, composer-prize from Musikföreningen i Stockholm, “Classical of the Year” from Dalecarlia Music Awards, the ASCAP Nissim Prize for best orchestral work, grand prize in the Uppsala Composer Competition, and the Fort Worth Frontiers award for new opera. He has received grants and funding from Fulbright, STIM, ASCAP, Längmanska Kulturfond, Kulturrådet (the Swedish Arts Council), Konstnärsnämnden (the Swedish Arts Grants Committee), the Wallenberg Foundation, Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation, and the Swedish Society of Composers (FST). His choral, chamber and solo music has been featured on festivals including Nordic Choir Expedition, Svensk Musikvår, Lund Choral Festival, and Sound of Stockholm (Scandinavia), Karuizawa International Choral Festival (Japan), and Purpur Festival (South Africa). Peterson’s works are published and distributed by Gehrmans, Edition Skellton, Hinshaw, Tempo Music Resource, and Svensk Musik/Swedish Music Information Center. He is represented by Summers Artist Services.

EDUCATION

Peterson holds degrees from the Gotland School of Music Composition (artist diploma), Indiana University School of Music (M.M.) and St. Olaf College (B.M.), where his teachers included Sven-David Sandström and Mary Ellen Childs. In 2017 Matthew founded the music composition program at Lilla Akademien in Stockholm. He has also served on the faculty of Lilla Akademien the Gotland School of Music Composition (Visby, Sweden) and as an Associate Instructor in music composition at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Matthew is an avid outdoorsman and lives in Dalarna, Sweden.

last updated April 2026