Matthew M. Marsit

Matthew M. Marsit is an active conductor and clarinetist that has led ensembles and performed as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician throughout the United States. He became chair of instrumental studies at Boston Conservatory at Berklee in 2018, and also serves as artistic director of the Charles River Wind Ensemble. Marsit has previously held conducting positions at Dartmouth College, Ithaca College, Cornell University, Drexel University, Symphony Nova, Chestnut Hill Orchestra, Bucks County Youth Ensembles, Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary, and Eastern U.S. Music Camp.

A champion for new music and advancing the wind ensemble repertoire, Marsit has led premiere performances of works by Christopher Marshall, Louis Andriessen, Daniel Basford, Christopher Theofanidis, Richard Marriott, Michael Gandolfi, Matthew Herman, Edward Green, and Thomas Miller, among others.

As a clarinetist, Marsit has performed with many ensembles including The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Fairmont Chamber Orchestra, and Cornell University’s Ensemble X, and has made solo appearances with the Keene State College Concert Band, Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble, Handel Society of Dartmouth College, Cornell University Jazz Ensemble, Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary, Drexel University Symphony Orchestra, and Chestnut Hill Orchestra. Marsit has served as clarinet faculty at Plymouth State University.

An advocate for the use of music as a vehicle for service, Marsit has led ensembles on service missions that collect and donation instruments to schools, as well as performing concerts and workshops to benefit struggling arts programs. His work at Dartmouth College allowed him to complete outreach projects with rural schools in New Hampshire and Vermont. This work included stimulating interest in performing arts programs like the highly successful Dartmouth Youth Wind Ensemble, where members of the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble mentor and perform alongside middle school students throughout the region. In 2014, Marsit led the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble on their first international service and performance tour to San José, Costa Rica. This tour partnered with the National Institute of Music in Costa Rica and the University of Costa Rica, as well as several Sistema Nacional de Educación Musical Schools throughout the country. Students were allowed to share and exchange with young students in low-income communities. Following the first tour in 2014, the Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble returned again in 2017.

A native of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Marsit first completed his studies in music at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he graduated summa cum laude. He studied clarinet performance under the tutelage of Anthony Gigliotti and Ronald Reuben, and conducting with Luis Biava and Arthur Chodoroff. Additionally Marsit has studied conducting with some of the world’s most prominent instructors, including Mark Davis Scatterday at the Eastman School of Music, Timothy Reynish at the Royal Northern College of Music in the United Kingdom, and Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Italy. Marsit completed a M.M. in conducting from Boston Conservatory in 2012.