LSU Trumpet Festival 2024

During his studies Matthew performed for a season with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, FL, toured Japan with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, and performed at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, Chautauqua Music Center in New York, and with the All-American College Band at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. He also was a fellow for two summers at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.

In 1998 Matthew earned his position with "The President's Own” and was appointed the band's solo cornet in January 2000 after performing in that role on his first national concert tour with the acclaimed ensemble. In addition to his duties with the Marine Band, Matthew is an active performer in the DC Metro area performing with the Washington Symphonic Brass, Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra, and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. An avid soloist, Matthew has performed throughout the United States. He has been regularly featured with "The President's Own" United States Marine Band to include three national concert tours. In 2010 he was invited to join Elvis Costello performing "Penny Lane" in the East Room of the White House for the PBS broadcast of the The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song honoring Sir Paul McCartney. That same year Matthew was hailed by the New York Times as "a superb trumpeter" for his performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Oberlippentanz" at the Guggenheim's Works & Process series. Matthew was also a featured soloist for the opening gala concert of ITG 2017 in Hershey PA and at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, KY performing with the High Bridge Brass in 2018.

Matthew currently resides in Alexandria, VA with his wife Hilary, son Joseph, daughter Hannah, and two dogs Lou and Coco.

Her tenure with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) included playing with the Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati May Festival, Cincinnati Ballet and Cincinnati Pops Orchestras. She performed under the batons of Igor Stravinsky, George Szell, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Eugene Ormandy, Eric Leinsdorf, Max Rudolf and so many more. In addition to solo appearances with the Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Pops and Cincinnati Chamber Orchestras, she was featured on NBC’s Today Show at age 15, in an impromptu jam session with Duke Ellington shortly after joining the orchestra, and with Dave Brubeck on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show, the CSO European tour, and at the Interlochen Arts Academy. While a student at CCM, she recorded sound tracks for James Brown, whose career was launched by the historic King Records in Cincinnati.

After retiring from the orchestra, she remained active as a performer, teacher and clinician, serving as Visiting Principal, Associate Principal and Second Trumpet of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, including their European tour, Carnegie Hall concerts and recordings. She toured with DIVA (the women’s jazz band) and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. She recorded for the TV Series: Voyager and Deep Space Nine at 20th Century Fox and Paramount Studios in California.

She served on the CCM faculty, 1964 -1973, on the faculty at Miami University of Ohio, 1973 - 1979, and returned to CCM as Adjunct Associate Professor, 1979 - 2002. She was appointed Professor of Music at Indiana University 1999, serving there until a year after her 2001 appointment as Professor of Trumpet and Brass Department Chair at the prestigious Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. While at Rice, she conducted the Rice Brass Choir, performing regularly with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and frequently with the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet and Houston Pops Orchestras. During that time, she also performed with the Colorado Symphony and Louisiana Symphony Orchestras. A clinician in Europe, Japan, South America and throughout the United States, she has been a featured guest artist at the International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC) and the International Trumpet Guild Conference (ITG). She has served as artist faculty at the Summit Brass Mendez Institute, performing with Summit Brass, coaching ensembles and presenting master classes. In 1999, she was one of six Americans (and the only American woman) to be invited by the Tokyo International Music Festival to perform in its first Super World Orchestra. In addition to the National Trumpet Competitions, she has served as adjudicator for the ITG, IWBC and the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music competitions.

Ms. Speziale has served on the Board of Directors of the Northern Kentucky Symphony Orchestra and on the editorial committee of the American Music Teacher, the official journal of the Music Teachers National Association. A member of the American Federation of Musicians, she has served as secretary and on the Board of the Directors of Local #1 in Cincinnati. Affiliations include IWBC, ITG, Sigma Alpha Iota (SAI), Pi Kappa Lambda and Cincinnati MacDowell Society. In SAI, she held the offices of Province President and Director of Instrumental Activities.

In 1996, Ms. Speziale performed with the Monarch Brass on its inaugural tour. She conducted the Monarch Brass at the 1997 and 2014 conferences, played, toured and recorded with Monarch Brass Quintet and Monarch Brass Ensemble until retiring from playing. President of IWBC, 1997 - 2001, she hosted the 2000 conference at CCM and served on the Board of Directors. Her work as a brass coach at the New World Symphony included serving on the audition adversity training panel and conducting their brass ensemble in concert. She served on the faculty of CCM’s Opera Theatre and Music Festival both in Lucca and Spoleto, Italy, where she conducted the brass choir, taught brass orchestral repertoire classes and served as brass chamber music coach. She has coached and conducted the brass sections of Washington, DC’s premiere bands …. the US Air Force Band, US Air Force Ceremonial Brass and the US Army Field Band. A member of the faculty at the Round Top Festival Institute in Texas since 2011, she teaches trumpet, coaches chamber music and conducts their Brass Ensemble every summer.

From 2014 -2016, Ms. Speziale supervised the graduate brass chamber music program at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. In 2016, she was invited by the Midwest Board of Directors to present a master class at their 70th Anniversary Conference. In 2017, she travelled to Uruguay to conduct the Banda Sinfonica de Montevideo in concerts commemorating Women’s History Month. In 2017, she served as Visiting Professor of Trumpet at IU and in 2018, at the Butler School of Music at The University of Texas at Austin.

Ms. Speziale has won many awards and honors, including Leading Women in the Arts Award from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition of Women’s Organizations, the Outstanding Woman of the Year in Music Award from the Tampa Tribune, the SAI Chapter, Province and National Leadership Awards, the Pioneer Award from the International Women's Brass Conference, the Golden Rose Award from the Women Band Directors International, the Woman of Excellence Award from the Italian Club of Tampa, the Distinguished Alumna Award from CCM and the Outstanding Alumni Award from the University of Cincinnati. In 2018, she was inducted into the Cincinnati Jazz Hall of Fame as part of their recognition of the Symphony Jazz Quintet, of which she was a founding member. She was presented with the prestigious Honorary Award from the International Trumpet Guild at their 2018 conference. In 2019, Ms. Speziale was one of 100 women recognized by Cincinnati Arts Wave in their Celebration of Women in the Arts: Power of Her.

Ms. Speziale retired as Professor Emerita from Rice University in 2013. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame and the Emeritus Board of the IWBC.

Over 300 collaborative performances with renowned artists such as Donald Sinta, Michelle DeYoung, Paul Groves, Ana María Martinez, Alexis Cárdenas, members of the Chicago Lyric Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera Orchestra, Pittsburgh Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Dallas Opera Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, and many more.

After finishing her two-year tenure as Studio Artist at the prestigious Houston Grand Opera Studio, as well as the Merola Opera Program of the San Francisco Opera, she became the Head Vocal Coach of the Moores Opera Center at the University of Houston. Currently, she is the Janice Harvey Pellar Associate Professor of Collaborative Piano at Louisiana State University and Coordinator of the collaborative piano program. She is the Co-Artistic Director of the Collaborative Piano Institute, an intensive three-week summer program devoted to collaborative pianists, that counts with stellar faculty, such as Martin Katz, Rita Sloan, Warren Jones, Kathleen Kelly, Marie-France Lefebvre, Howard Watkins, and many more.

She is also pianist and founding member of the Reverón Piano Trio (a Venezuelan ensemble devoted to the standard, modern, and Latin American piano trio repertoire managed in the United States by Meluk Kulturmanagement and in Latin America and Europe in society Halac Artists - Meluk Kulturmanagement), and the Aelia Duo (with pianist Elena Lacheva).

She is a regular guest artist, guest speaker, and teacher at different Universities in the United States and abroad such as the University of Michigan, Yale, Cambridge, Universidade de Sao Paulo and Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (Brazil), Mahidol University (Thailand), University of Minnesota, University of Texas at Austin, the University of South Carolina, and many more. Ana María holds a Master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin, an Artist Certificate from the University of South Carolina where she worked with the renowned pianist Marina Lomazov, and a Doctorate in Collaborative Piano from the University of Michigan, where she studied with world-class collaborative pianist Martin Katz. In 2021 she won the Emerging Artist Award from the University of Michigan, as an artist who has greatly contributed to the profession, as well as the Rising Faculty Research Award from Louisiana State University for professional excellence.

She was principal keyboard of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra (2007–08) as well as Assistant Professor at the University of Musical Studies in Caracas. Besides her musical training, Ana María is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian, and also a Geophysical Engineer. Her thesis was published in the prestigious journal Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors.