Matthew Straw

About Matthew

Matthew Straw is the newly appointed Assistant Conductor of Opéra National du Rhin’s Opera Studio (Strasbourg National Opera), where he will make his debut with Les Contes d’Hoffmann in 2025. Currently, he is Assistant Conductor of the Utah Symphony, where he works with Music Director Emeritus Thierry Fischer and Creative Partner David Robertson and has conducted over 60 concerts. In recent seasons he has conducted the Rochester Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, and Des Moines Metro Opera.

Straw has assisted leading conductors, such as Donald Runnicles, Cristian Macelaru, and Kazushi Ono, working with the Brussels Philharmonic, ORF-Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, and Salzburg Festival.

Straw was the Helen F. Whitaker Conducting Fellow at the 2019 Aspen Music Festival, Conducting Fellow at the 2023 Cabrillo Festival, and a participant in the 2019 Järvi Academy of Conducting. He has participated in masterclasses with Stéphane Denève, James Gaffigan, Nicholas McGegan, Cristian Măcelaru, Ludovic Morlot, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Neeme and Paavo Järvi, Mark Stringer, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Robert Spano. He is a three-time winner of the Solti Foundation Career Assistance Award.

Straw holds degrees in conducting, piano, philosophy and voice from Oberlin College & Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music where his teachers included Robert Spano, Neil Varon, and Stanislav Loudenitch.

Growing up in a musical family of choral conductors and voice teachers, Straw fell in love with opera while studying voice with his father and accompanying his students. His repertoire now spans 20 titles, ranging from standard German, French, and Italian repertoire to new American opera and musical theatre. He is a winner of the 2015 National YoungArts Award and won First Prize at the 2014 Schmidt Competition.