Matthew Roeder
Matthew Roeder is in his fourteenth year as Associate Director of Bands and Director of the “Golden Buffalo” Marching Band at the University of Colorado, Boulder. An Associate Professor of Music, Roeder is the artistic conductor of the Symphonic Band and teaches instrumental conducting as well as music education courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Prior to his appointment at CU Boulder, Roeder taught at Parkville High School in Baltimore County, Maryland where he held the position of Director of Bands and served as Performing Arts Department chairman. In this capacity, he was recognized by the Maryland General Assembly for outstanding service and dedication to Parkville and the students in the Performing Arts Department.
Roeder is Conductor Laureate of the Colorado Wind Ensemble, the only wind ensemble outside of academia in the Denver metropolitan area, for which he served as Conductor and Music Director over ten seasons (2004-2014). Under his direction, the Colorado Wind Ensemble was proud to present the Opening Keynote Concert for the CMEA Clinic / Conference in January 2010. As Music Director, Roeder led the initiative to institute the Colorado Wind Ensemble Commissioning Project resulting in published compositions by Michael Colgrass, Carter Pann, and Steven Bryant.
An active clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor, Roeder has developed an international and national presence with recent professional appearances in Ontario and Alberta, Canada, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), France, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Indiana, New York, Maryland, and Ohio. He also has been secured to guest conduct the New Jersey All State Symphonic Band in 2016. Dr. Roeder has been published as a contributing author in multiple volumes of the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series available through GIA Publications. He is a co-author in The Journal of Research in Music Education, volume 57, no. 4 and producer of the CU Wind Symphony’s recording entitled “Of Love and Life.”
Roeder has established a reputation for presenting inspiring interpretations within the wind band medium and has received praise from numerous composers for his creative leadership of their music. Of Roeder’s artistic direction, award-winning composer Carter Pann states, “To enter into a rehearsal with Matt is to leave the world outside the door and to work on something with such enthusiasm, honor, and integrity that you have no choice but to travel in tandem with him until the achievement can be seen finally, in reflection off the faces of those that surround him.”
Matthew Roeder was honored twice with the Marinus Smith Award from the University of Colorado Parents Association, most recently in 2015, and he received the Residence Life Academic Teaching Award for two consecutive years. He remains an active member of the College Band Director’s National Association, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, Music Educators National Conference, Colorado Music Educators Association, and is a lifetime member of Phi Mu Alpha as well as an honorary member of Kappa Kappa Psi.
Roeder earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Instrumental Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his Master of Music in Music Education with a conducting emphasis from the Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University and his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.