The D’Angelo Department of Music is pleased to announce Matthew Salvaggio as the new director of the Mercyhurst Civic Orchestra, starting late March 2022. Matt is the founder and Music Director of the Cleveland Repertory Orchestra. Additionally, the 2021/22 season marks his first season as Music Director and Conductor of the Erie Junior Philharmonic, and fifth season as Music Director of the Euclid Symphony Orchestra. 

Matt was a 2021 Second Prize winner of the American Prize in wind conducting and a 2015 semi-finalist in the National Band Association’s Young Conductor Mentor Project. In 2019, he was a finalist for conducting positions with both the United States Army and Air Force Bands – an honor reserved for a select few each year. As an artistic leader, Matthew has guided his ensembles through the process of becoming independent non-profit entities and has expanded programming with each of his organizations. In 2019, he established the Tom Baker Young Artists Competition with the Euclid Symphony Orchestra. The annual competition awards the winner a performance opportunity with the ESO and a cash prize.

An advocate for new music, Matt has helped commission nearly twenty works in the last decade from composers including Mark Camphouse, Anthony O’Toole, Michael Kallstrom, Kevin Walczyk, and Tony Manfredonia. Artistic collaborations include John Rautenberg (Cleveland Orchestra), John DiCesare (Seattle Symphony), Joshua Lauretig (Buffalo Philharmonic), Kyra Kester (Akron Symphony), Cameron Leach, J.c. Sherman, Emily Cornelius and ESO concertmaster Liesl Hook. Matt recently completed six seasons as the Musical and Artistic Director of the University Heights Symphonic Band, and he has previously served on the conducting faculty at Hiram College, and Lakeland Community College. He is active as a guest conductor and clinician and has been invited to conduct local public-school bands, community bands, summer music camps and honors ensembles. 

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Matt earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Akron and a Master of Music degree in conducting from Kent State University. At Kent State, his primary teachers were Scott Seaton and Wayne Gorder, and he has undertaken additional conducting study in symposia with Donald Hunsberger, Mallory Thompson, Michael Haithcock, Rodney Winther and Michael Votta. Matt maintains memberships in the College Band Directors National Conference, National Conductors Guild, Ohio Music Education Association, National Association for Music Education, Association of Concert Bands, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, and Tau Beta Sigma.