Matthew Jihoon Pellegrino is an award-winning composer, Fulbright researcher, and devoted music educator. He has previously taught at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins, Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts, and the Park School of Baltimore. Uncompromising in his work, Pellegrino seeks to create music that engages equally with casual audiences as well as the most serious of listeners. In his music he most enjoys exploring personal themes while incorporating touches of dark humor.
Most recently, Matthew was awarded a Fulbright Research Grant to conduct his doctoral research on traditional music in South Korea. He was then commissioned by the Dareumi Gahteum Project in Seoul to compose and arrange an evening of music combining elements of the Western classical canon with Korean traditional melodies through an ensemble comprising instruments from both cultures. His work, Anxiety Cycles, received its premiere at Symphony Center, Chicago IL as part of a co-commission by Sound Mind and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for their musicians and mental health initiative. Dear Mother: A Transracial Adoption Story received a virtual ballet production in collaboration with Boston Korean Adoptees and KAAN: Korean American Adoptive Family Network. In 2016, Matthew's Winter Unending, Invincible Summer won the Charles B. Olson award, and has since been performed by The Guards Band of Finland, the Peabody Wind Ensemble, and recorded by the Encore Wind Ensemble. His works have been performed by The Guard's Band, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Peabody Wind Ensemble, University of Massachusetts at Amherst Symphonic Band, Fredonia State University Wind Ensemble, Kent State University New Music Ensemble, and MezzoBlasto Clarinet Quartet.
Matthew is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Oscar Bettison at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where he also completed his Master’s degree. As a Korean American Adoptee, Matthew’s work explores the space between being Korean and American. His research focuses on the intersections of Korean music with Western culture, the influence of cultural taste and aesthetic on musical sound, and deconstructing the impact of colonization on global musical cultures.