CONDUCTOR

Conductor

Listen to performances on Soundcloud.

Concert, UIUC students choir and chamber orchestra, Nelly Matova conductor

W. A. Mozart: Coronation Mass: Kyrie and Gloria

Cappella Orpheus,

Nelly Matova conductor

G. Ligeti: Magany

Cappella Orpheus,

Nelly Matova conductor

Ola Gjeilo: Ubi Caritas

Nelly Matova was born in Bulgaria. She became interested in choral singing in elementary school, and studied conducting and music education at Dobrin Petkov National School for Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She graduated with high school diploma. She holds a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the State Music Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a DMA degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nelly was fortunate to study and work with conductors such as Krum Maximov, Vassil Arnaudov, Theodora Pavlovitch, Volker Hempflilng, Fred Stoltzfus, Chester Alwes and Donald Schleicher.

Nelly has held various positions, including that of a secondary school music teacher, and assistant conductor of the academic choir” Angel Manolov” in Sofia. She also conducted a children’s choir, and was for several years director of the community choir “Aprilov-Palauysov,” both in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. She has also served as music director for various churches, most recently at Christ Lutheran Church, Monticello, Illinois. She often returns to her native country to serve as a choral clinician for summer programs and guest conductor.

Nelly has a broad experience as a singer. She performed with the widely acclaimed Sofia Chamber Choir under the late Prof. Vassil Arnaudov. With this choir she travelled and recorded extensively. She also was a singer in BACH (Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana) with Dr. Chester Alwes.

Nelly likes an eclectic repertoire and is always looking for the challenges in the choral art.

Her scholarly interests are centered on contemporary music of the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Her doctoral dissertation was concerned with the music by the Czech composer Petr Eben. With her choirs she regularly performs contemporary choral music of North, Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, she examines the role and method of relative pitch training, its application in the choral warm-up and rehearsal process and the resulting improvement in singing precision. She frequently writes book reviews, CD reviews and articles for various music journals.

In addition to her work with Cappella Orpheus, Nelly Matova developed a private music teaching studio where she teaches piano, music theory and aural skills, fundamentals of the conducting, and score-reading.