Matthew Greenbaum

Matthew Jonathan Greenbaum (born February 12, 1950) is an American musician, composer and author.

Background Born in New York City, Greenbaum studied privately with Stefan Wolpe, and Mario Davidovsky at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the Graduate Center (1985), and has served as a professor of music composition at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance since 1998.

Since 1999 Greenbaum has worked with computer animation to create hybrid works of visual music, as well as chamber music with a video component. Greenbaum has also written on Claude Debussy, Arnold Schoenberg and Edgard Varèse in relation to Wolpe's dialectical and "cubist" approach to musical structure. He is the curator of Amphibian, a new music and video series in the Hi Art Gallery in New York City.

Music Greenbaum's most significant work is Nameless, a 25-minute wordless psalm for three sopranos and two chamber ensembles. It was composed for the Momenta Quartet and the Cygnus Ensemble, and bears a quotation from the Medieval Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides.

Awards Greenbaum's awards include the following: Nameless and other Works: Furious Artisans Recordings; The Cygnus Ensemble and the Momenta Quartet, with sopranos Priscilla Herreid, Elizabeth Farnum and Julie Bishop, mezzo-soprano Re'ut Ben Ze'ev, and violinist Miranda Cuckson Nameless for three sopranos, alto flute, English horn, violin, cello guitar and mandolin and string quartet (2009) Wild Rose, Lily, Dry Vanilla for mezzo-soprano, flute, oboe, violin, cello, guitar and banjo Chaconne by Attrition for violin alone Venerable Canons for flute and violin Psalter and other works, Centaur #2789 Psalter, Joyce Castle/Parnassus Prospect Retrospect for cello and piano: Fred Sherry/Blair McMillen from A Floating Island: Cyndie Bellen-Berthézène Castelnau for string quartet: The Momenta Quartet Elegy: David Holzman, piano Untimely Observations for viola and piano: Stephanie Griffin/Blair McMillen Nod Quiet Ox for oboe and piano: Fabian Menzel and Bernhard Endres. Antes/Bella Musica Amulet, for piano solo: David Holzman, Centaur CRC 2291 Chamber Music, for flute, cello and piano: The Contemporary Trio re-release. New World NWCRL513

Articles Greenbaum is the author of the following articles: "Dialectic in Miniature: Schoenberg's 'Sechs Kleine Klavierstücke Op. 19.'" Ex Tempore (Summer 2010) "Surrealism in New York." New Music Jukebox (American Music Center) (Fall 2009) "Debussy, Wolpe and Dialectical Form." Contemporary Music Review: Stefan Wolpe Issue (Spring 2008) "The Proportions of Density 21.5: Wolpean Symmetries in the Music of Edgard Varèse", On the Music of Stefan Wolpe. Austin Clarkson, ed. Pendragon (Hillsdale, New York: 2003) "Stefan Wolpe's Dialectical Logic: A Look at the 'Second Piece for Violin Alone, Perspectives of New Music, volume 40, number 2 (2002) Stefan Wolpe, "On Proportions" trans. Matthew Greenbaum. Perspectives of New Music 34/2 (1996)