HCP 19: Matthew Lyon Hazzard on shaping your career in the choral arts
Matthew Lyon Hazzard is a choral composer, conductor, and singer who comes to this episode to share how he has been successful in transforming his path to dedicate his entire self to choral music. The way he planned his degree and how that took him now to the University of Houston for a doctorate in choral conducting. What he learned on the way and his thoughts to all the people out there in the choral arts.
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In this episode, you will learn:
- Where does “Hazmatt” come from?
- How we met and my story as a stalker
- His life in the Philippines and how he started singing there
- Why and when he became a total choral nerd
- When he realized choral music was his life
- His strengths as a choral musician
- The story of how he decided to go into music
- His concerns going into music and how he shaped his career to alleviate those worries
- When he learned that he could write music
- His first choral premiere as a freshman in college
- BM in composition + Masters art in teaching
- His journey to become a composer
- Workshops that helped him to realize he could write music and learn while singing
- How his actor friend gave him one of the best advice about a career in the arts
- How he found composition competitions and his approach to the process and result
- The domino effect of the opportunities in choral composition competitions
- How he got to California thanks to the domino effect
- His goals as a composer and conductor and how it does not relate to the goals of a composition degree
- The importance to go to composition workshops and hear your pieces read through
- How he decided that choral workshops were a better fit for him
- My story applying to school and how I got to the University of Houston
- How he learned unexpected things in his composition program that helped him on his career as a choral artist
- How he learned to survive his composition degree, learning what he wanted and growing.
- How not finding a conductor made him make the leap to conduct and organize rehearsals
Share it with me
- Do you feel defined by your degree? Have you had the chance to
Links mentioned in the show:
- Matthew Lyon Hazzard Website
- Matthew’s Social media: facebook, instagram
- Composer site
- Premiere project choral arts initiative
- Jonathan Talberg
- Dominick DiOrio
- University of Houston David Ashley White
- Jocelyn Hagen Iowa composition workshop
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Produced by Carlos Cordero.
Thank you for listening!
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Hugs,
C.
