Matt Sharrock

Assistant Professor of Core Studies and Contemporary Classical Music

For media inquiries, please contact Media Relations

Matt Sharrock (they/she) is a vibrant musician whose performances have been praised as “eloquent” (San Francisco Chronicle), “sumptuous” (Boston Globe), and “gorgeously lyrical” (Pittsburgh Gazette), and they have been hailed one of “Boston’s best percussionists” (I Care if You Listen). 

As Transient Canvas, along with clarinetist Amy Advocat, Sharrock tirelessly champions the music of living composers. Since its founding in 2011, Transient Canvas has commissioned over 90 pieces for bass clarinet and marimba while touring extensively in the United States and abroad. She is also the percussionist and director of operations for the Hinge Quartet, a genre-bending ensemble that combines cutting-edge contemporary classical and experimental music with seamless multimedia integration. Starting in 2025, Hinge Quartet became the contemporary ensemble in residence at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

In demand as a chamber musician, Sharrock is the resident percussionist with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and has performed with the Lydian String Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, and Sound Icon, among others. As an orchestral percussionist, they can be heard regularly with the Lexington Symphony, the Vista Philharmonic, and the Grammy-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project. She has recorded on Beauport Classical, BMOP/sound, Innova, Navona, New Focus Recordings, and Ravello Records.

A passionate educator, Sharrock is an assistant professor of core studies, composition, and contemporary classical music performance at Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a course author for Berklee Online. Sharrock proudly endorses Marimba One marimbas and vibraphones and Encore Mallets.

Recent Engagements

  • Rockport Chamber Music Festival (Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA, 2018)—featured percussionist on pieces by Tan Dun and Osvaldo Golijov
  • Re:Sound (BOP Stop at the Music Settlement, Cleveland, OH, 2018)—featured performers on first annual Re:Sound New Music Festival, Transient Canvas
  • Outpost Concert Series (Culver Center for the Arts, Riverside, CA, 2018)—Transient Canvas
  • Composers, Inc. (First Congregational Church, Berkeley, CA, 2018)—Guest ensemble, Transient Canvas
  • Music at the Forefront (Clazel Theatre, Bowling Green, OH, 2017)—Transient Canvas

Highlights

CURRENT ENSEMBLES

  • Transient Canvas—marimbist and artistic director
  • Hinge Quartet—percussionist and director of operations
  • Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston—resident percussionist
  • Boston Modern Orchestra Project—section percussion

SELECT RECORDINGS

  • Transient Canvas: Right now in a second, New Focus Recordings (fcr267)
  • Transient Canvas: Wired, New Focus Recordings (fcr218)
  • Transient Canvas: Sift, New Focus Recordings (fcr190)
  • Curtis Hughes: Tulpa, New Focus Recordings (fcr298)
  • Aaron Jay Myers: Clever Machines, New Focus Recordings (fcr297)
Education
  • The Boston Conservatory
    Massachusetts
    Master of Music (MM)
    Marimba Performance
  • Baldwin-Wallace College
    Ohio
    Bachelor of Music (BM)
    Percussion Performance
In Their Own Words

What do you want students to gain from your classes or lessons? My primary goal as a teacher is for my students to walk away with the ability to engage with an enormously broad spectrum of music and a clear plan for how to put their own artistic goals into practice.

How does your professional background contribute to your teaching? My background as a professional performer definitely helps add weight to everything that I teach. My students know that every concept I try to convey comes from years of practical experience in our ever-evolving artistic field.

Additional Related Links
hingequartet.com