Called “preposterously talented” by Time Out Chicago, violinist and violist Matt Albert is the Director of Chamber Music and of SYZYGY at Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University. He is the Concertmaster for the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, and during the summer he serves as the Artistic Director of the Music in the Mountains Conservatory in Durango, Colorado. He was a founding member of eighth blackbird, with whom he received numerous awards, including first prizes at the Naumburg, Concert Artists Guild, Coleman, and Fischoff Competitions, and three Grammy awards for their recordings on Cedille Records. He has worked with artists as diverse as Meredith Monk, Corky Siegel’s Chamber Blues, and Wilco, and his orchestral playing has included work with the Baltimore Symphony, the Florida Orchestra, the Firebird Chamber Orchestra, and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. His principal teachers include Kenneth Sarch, Gregory Fulkerson, Kurt Sassmannshaus, and Almita Vamos. Matt grew up in Winchester, and he spent many years playing and working with students and faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory, especially in theatrical productions conducted by his father, Thomas Albert. He holds degrees from Oberlin College and Conservatory, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and Northwestern University School of Music.