Upcoming Shows
Bio
Equally at home as a jazz and classical saxophonist,
Matt Olson is Associate Professor of Saxophone and
Director of Jazz Studies at Furman University in
Greenville, South Carolina. He hails from Racine,
Wisconsin, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts
degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, and a Master of Music degree in Jazz
Pedagogy and Bachelor of Music degree in
Saxophone Performance from Northwestern
University. Matt’s teachers have included Frederick
Hemke, Debra Richtmeyer, Mike Kocour, Don
Owens, Paul Bro, and Jonathan Helton.
Matt’s professional work includes performances with
Randy Brecker, Kurt Elling, Benny Carter, John
Fedchock, Ken Peplowski, Kevin Mahogany, Doc
Severinsen, Chris Vadala, Manhattan Transfer, Aretha
Franklin, Natalie Cole, Bernadette Peters, Lou Rawls,
Michael Feinstein, Johnny Mathis, Bob Newhart,
Wayne Newton, the Temptations, the Four Tops,
children’s entertainer Shari Lewis, the Chicago Jazz
Ensemble, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and
the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. His performances
have taken him to the Montreal Jazz Festival as well
as to Chicago’s Jazz Showcase and Orchestra Hall.
Matt has been part of commissions that resulted in new works for the saxophone by composers Frank
Ticheli, John FitzRogers, Christopher Dobrian, Don Owens, and Roscoe Mitchell. He has performed at
numerous national and regional conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance and the 2003
World Saxophone Congress. He has also been a featured guest artist at Northwestern University, Arizona
State University, the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, the University of Idaho, and high schools
throughout the United States. Matt’s debut jazz recording, Vortex, was released in 2006. He has published
articles in both Downbeat magazine and The Saxophone Symposium, and Walrus Music publishes Matt's
original compositions for large jazz ensemble.
Matt is active nationally as a clinician and adjudicator. He presented a clinic on playing "both sides" of the
saxophone at the 2009 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. He frequently presents clinics and
master classes at high schools around the country, and serves as an adjudicator for several high school jazz
festivals. He was previously the instructor of saxophone for the South Carolina Governor’s School for the
Arts and Humanities and a summer instructor for the National High School Music Institute at
Northwestern University. He also conducted one of two 2005 South Carolina Band Directors Association
All-State Jazz Ensembles. He holds memberships in a variety of professional music societies including the
North American Saxophone Alliance, Jazz Education Network, National Association for Music
Education, BMI, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.