First Prize winner in the 1995 Rantucci Guitar Competition, Matthew Ardizzone was one of twelve semi-finalists in the 1996 Walter W. Naumburg International Competition for Guitar. In 1997 he took fifth place at the Stotsenberg International Guitar Competition in Malibu, and in the same year became the first guitarist to receive the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music. Since then, he has performed throughout the US and Canada appearing with the Anderson Symphony Orchestra (IN), the Livingston Symphony Orchestra (MI), the Eastman GuitarFest, Guitar Houston, the Ithaca College Winter Guitar Festival, and numerous concert series throughout the country.

Since moving to Ann Arbor in 2001, Matthew Ardizzone has been active in the musical community, collaborating with the Phoenix Ensemble, Brave New Works, Chamber Music Ann Arbor, and with members of the faculty of the U-M School of Music. An adjunct professor of guitar at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Matthew also teaches younger students through the Young Strings Program of the University of Michigan.

Matthew’s solo CD, Mazurka!, was the winner of a 2001 Crystal Award of Excellence and has been nationally distributed on the AMP label. He has also recorded a CD of Spanish and Latin American music with violinist Movses Pogossian. Matthew has presented master classes and his “Practicing for Enjoyment” workshop at schools throughout the country, including the Cleveland Institute of Music, Houston Baptist University, Ball State University, and Eastern Michigan University.