Matt Consul

Currently based in Farmingdale, Maine, violist and multi-instrumentalist Matt Consul holds a Bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance and a Master’s in Contemporary Improvisation on mandolin and violin from Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music.  He is a member of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, and has previously performed with the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Shattered Glass ensemble, and as acting principal viola of the New Orchestra of Washington.  Matt was formerly the principal violist of Boston’s highly-acclaimed (but, sadly, now defunct) chamber orchestra Discovery Ensemble.  A lifelong lover of chamber music, Matt has appeared as guest violist for the Portland String Quartet, performed in Hyderabad, India as a part of the SOTA festival, and has attended such festivals as The Taos School of Music and Kneisel Hall.  He also coaches chamber music at the Pineland Suzuki School in Manchester, Maine. Matt was a co-founder/director of For The Love Of Music, an educational initiative that provided free interactive performances and workshops for children in uptown Manhattan, and currently presents educational workshops for kids in Portland public elementary schools through the Portland Symphony’s Explorers program. Active in a variety of musical circles outside the classical world, Matt has recorded and regularly performed with jazz composer/bandleader Miho Hazama’s Grammy-nominated ensemble m_unit and was formerly a member of the alt folk outfit the Laura Grill Band.  He has performed, toured, and recorded with artists as diverse as jazz vocalist Kurt Elling, rock groups The Dear Hunter and Bent Knee, and ska band Streetlight Manifesto.