Biography
Composer Matthew Heap draws upon an unusually broad stylistic palette that extends from atonality to musical theater, selecting his approach according to the expressive demands of each subject. Recognition came with his 2012 oratorio Dillinger.
Born in the United Kingdom in 1981, Heap pursued studies on both sides of the Atlantic. He completed an MFA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh before obtaining a master’s degree at the Royal College of Music in London and later earning a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. His principal teachers included Leonardo Balada, Eric Moe, and Nancy Galbraith. Heap has maintained an active presence in both Britain and the United States, with performances of his music presented in multiple cities across each country. He is a Founding Core Composer of Alia Musica Pittsburgh, the ensemble and organization devoted to promoting work by composers based in the Pittsburgh region. He participated as a fellow at the June in Buffalo festival and reached the finals of the Iron Composer Competition.
Heap has composed for New York’s Talea Ensemble, Texas-based Duo Scordatura, Los Angeles’s TEMPO, and the Contemporary Enclave in Thailand; he is currently writing for the Trillium Ensemble and the Khasma Piano Duet. His scores encompass serial procedures, multiphonics, microtones, conventional triadic harmony, and elements of musical theater. Attention has centered on Dillinger: An American Oratorio, completed in 2012 and drawn from the final days of outlaw John Dillinger. Written for choir, four soloists, and chamber ensemble, the piece appeared on the Navona Records label in 2023. Heap also works as a music theorist, instructing both theory and composition at West Virginia University while pursuing research into Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia and the application of perceptual theories to the music of Matthias Pintscher and other composers.
Born in the United Kingdom in 1981, Heap pursued studies on both sides of the Atlantic. He completed an MFA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh before obtaining a master’s degree at the Royal College of Music in London and later earning a PhD from the University of Pittsburgh. His principal teachers included Leonardo Balada, Eric Moe, and Nancy Galbraith. Heap has maintained an active presence in both Britain and the United States, with performances of his music presented in multiple cities across each country. He is a Founding Core Composer of Alia Musica Pittsburgh, the ensemble and organization devoted to promoting work by composers based in the Pittsburgh region. He participated as a fellow at the June in Buffalo festival and reached the finals of the Iron Composer Competition.
Heap has composed for New York’s Talea Ensemble, Texas-based Duo Scordatura, Los Angeles’s TEMPO, and the Contemporary Enclave in Thailand; he is currently writing for the Trillium Ensemble and the Khasma Piano Duet. His scores encompass serial procedures, multiphonics, microtones, conventional triadic harmony, and elements of musical theater. Attention has centered on Dillinger: An American Oratorio, completed in 2012 and drawn from the final days of outlaw John Dillinger. Written for choir, four soloists, and chamber ensemble, the piece appeared on the Navona Records label in 2023. Heap also works as a music theorist, instructing both theory and composition at West Virginia University while pursuing research into Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia and the application of perceptual theories to the music of Matthias Pintscher and other composers.
Albums
