Matthew Davis

Philharmonia Conductor

(He/Him)

Matthew Davis is honored to serve as Philharmonia Conductor of Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras. Since 2006, Mr. Davis has held the position of Director of Strings at the Lois Cowles Harrison Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Lakeland, Florida. In addition to conducting the Harrison Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, Mr. Davis teaches music theory, music composition, and chamber music. Under his direction, the Harrison Symphony Orchestra was selected to perform at the Opening Ceremonies of the ASTA National Conference in 2020, the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in 2007 and the Festival des Anches in La Croix Valmer, France, in 2010 and 2018. Mr. Davis was the recipient of a Surdna Arts Teachers Fellowship to travel to the Netherlands and study Baroque cello at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in 2012. He was named Harrison School for the Arts Teacher of the Year in 2011 and was honored with the Marjorie Keller Young Teacher Award by Texas ASTA in 2004. An active All-State and All-County clinician, Mr. Davis holds a Master of Music Education from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance from Indiana University.

An active conductor and clinician, Mr. Davis has conducted high school and middle school honors orchestras in Orlando, Tampa, Fort Myers, and Naples, Florida as well as San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Davis has served on the faculty of the Florida State University Summer Music Camps since 2008 and currently co-conducts the Symphony String and Guarneri Orchestras.

As a cellist, Mr. Davis has studied with Lubomir Georgiev, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Helga Winold, Nathaniel Rosen, and Richard Aaron and served as Assistant Principal Cello of the Tallahassee Symphony. He performed on tour with the American Russian Young Artists Orchestra in the United States, Russia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, and in chamber music programs at the Encore School for Strings, the Quartet Program, and the Chautauqua Institute. Mr. Davis is a member of the American String Teachers Association. He presently serves as Past-President for the Florida Orchestra Association.

He currently serves as the Co-Chair for the Florida Orchestra Association All-State Music Committee Chair. Mr. Davis resides in Lakeland with his wife, Sarah, a music educator and violinist, and their son Sebastian.