Matthew Swope

Matthew Swope is the Director of Choral Activities and an Assistant Professor of Music at the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music at Kent State University. Dr. Swope has taught at the University of Cincinnati, Rollins College, and Winter Park High School. He was also previously named a May Festival Choral Conducting Fellow.

Dr. Swope embraces a diverse array of musical styles and is equally at home in the choral, contemporary a cappella, and musical theatre repertoires. He is an active clinician, adjudicator, and conductor. Ensembles under his direction have performed for state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Florida Music Education Association (FMEA), International Championship of High School A Cappella Finals, and National A Cappella Convention. Dr. Swope has presented at conferences of ACDA, National Association for Music Education, FMEA, and Ohio Music Education Association.

Dr. Swope performs as a tenor soloist and professional chorister, and he was a founding member of the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers.

In 2013, he was awarded Penn State’s Outstanding Alumni Music Educator Award and was named by Winter Park Magazine as one of the Most Influential People in 2019. In addition, Dr. Swope earned second place in The American Prize Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting (high school chorus division) in 2021.

He holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting with a cognate in Musical Theatre from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In addition, he received his M.M. in Voice Performance & Pedagogy and B.A. degrees in Music and Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies from The Pennsylvania State University.