Available from Cimarron Music Press:
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/concertoforeuphoniumnunes

Premiered April 21st, 2016 by Dr. Gail Robertson and the Little Rock Wind Symphony - Israel Getzov, conductor

Composer’s Notes:
           This Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band was composed for one of my former teachers and fellow euphonist Dr. Gail Robertson. For this work I based the material around pitches corresponding to each letter of her first name: G = G natural; A = A natural; I = Ionian, or the current key’s tonic, C natural; L = Lydian, or the fourth degree of the current key, F natural. Each movement is derived in some way from this figure.

          The work begins with an energetic fanfare and a taste of the second theme. The euphonium enters with similar pomp and dazzling virtuosity that settles into more heroic statements. Next, the euphonium soars over thick ensemble textures in a tender reflection. Finally, the soloist charges forth in a ferocious display of dexterity and power.
 
- Matthew Nunes
Windsor, May 2015

Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band (Premiere Recording)

Recorded December 10th, 2014 at The Hartt School of Music, West Hartford Connecticut by Alex Burke, Allison Hughes, Natalia Kaminska-Palarcyzk, and Shannon Vandzura. 

Now available for purchase from Cimarron Music Press!
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/flurry


FLURRY for flute quartet or ensemble by Matthew Nunes is a captivating composition written during the winter of 2014. Cast in 4 short movements: Allegro Energico; Dolce, pio; Giocoso; and Danza, this colorful, audience-friendly work makes a memorable feature number. Flurry may be performed by a quartet of C flutes. An alto flute part is provided as an alternative for part 3, and a bass flute part is provided as an alternative for part 4. Multiple players may be used on each part to expand the ensemble. 
(6’15”)  Grade IV-V.

Flurry for Flute Quartet (or ensemble) (Live Recording)

This piece is available from Cimarron Music Press:
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/catalog/product/view/id/12522/s/dies-irave/

In musical history dozens of composers have borrowed snippets of the Dies Irae, or Day of Wrath Gregorian chant. This chant, c. 1200 – 1300 AD, depicts the judgment day where God saves the worthy individuals and leaves the unworthy behind to perish in eternal flames. I use this chant in a way, not to evoke pain and suffering, but in irony that no matter what we do we are stuck in the flow of time and must submit to nature’s rhythm.

Dies Irave (Prelude) For Solo Euphonium

Click here to purchase: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/quartet-in-f-for-tuba-euphonium-quartet-digital-sheet-music/22081752

Quartet No. 1 in F combines two things close to my heart: literature and tuba/euphonium writing. Each movement is a reflection on major novels and includes common musical threads. These works are The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596) by Edmund Spenser, Money (1984) by Martin Amis, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson.

- Matthew Nunes
Niceville, October 2018

I. Belphoebe
“And with them eke, O Goddesse heavenly bright, 
Mirrour of grace and Majestie divine, 
Great Lady of the greatest Isle, whose light 
Like Phoebus lampe throughout the world doth shine, 
Shed thy faire beames into my feeble eyne, 
And raise my thoughts too humble and too vile, 
To thinke of that true glorious type of thine, 
The argument of mine afflicted stile: 
The which to heare, vouchsafe, O dearest dred a-while.” 
- Edmund Spenser

II. Heavy Fuel
“He could take one look at me - at the ashtray, the bottle, the four pots of coffee, my face, and my gut set like a stone on the white band of the towel- he could take one look at me and be pretty sure I ran on heavy fuel.”
- Martin Amiss

III. Remedios
“Amaranta felt a mysterious trembling in the lace on her petticoats and she tried to grasp the sheet so that she would not fall down at the instant in which Remedios the Beauty began to rise. Úrsula, almost blind at the time, was the only person who was sufficiently calm to identify the nature of that determined wind and she left the sheets to the mercy of the light as she watched Remedios the Beauty waving goodbye in the midst of the flapping sheets that rose up with her, abandoning with her the environment of beetles and dahlias and passing through the air with her as four o'clock in the afternoon came to an end, and they were lost forever with her in the upper atmosphere where not even the highest-flying birds of memory could reach her.”
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

IV. The Sprawl
“Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts... A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding...” 
- William Gibson

IV. The Sprawl

III. Remedios

II. Heavy Fuel

I. Belphoebe

http://www.matthewnunesmusic.com/large-ensemble.html

Concerto for Flute and String Orchestra is dedicated to my flutist friend Alyssa Kimpel. This concerto features three different movements of contrasting styles – all of which centered on her progress towards her dream career as a music therapist. The first movement is a playful sonata that represents the anticipation of beginning a new journey in life. The second movement is a serenade of pure bliss but harbored inside are the worries life attempts to destroy it with. The final movement is a whirlwind of emotions the soloist must fight through to reach the finish. 

- Matthew Nunes
Windsor, June 2016 – December 2017

III. Vivace

II. Serenade

I. Allegro

Recorded December 10th, 2014 at The Hartt School of Music, West Hartford Connecticut by Alex Burke, Allison Hughes, Natalia Kaminska-Palarcyzk, and Shannon Vandzura. 

Now available for purchase from Cimarron Music Press:
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/flurry

FLURRY for flute quartet or ensemble by Matthew Nunes is a captivating composition written during the winter of 2014. Cast in 4 short movements: Allegro Energico; Dolce, pio; Giocoso; and Danza, this colorful, audience-friendly work makes a memorable feature number. Flurry may be performed by a quartet of C flutes. An alto flute part is provided as an alternative for part 3, and a bass flute part is provided as an alternative for part 4. Multiple players may be used on each part to expand the ensemble. 
(6’15”)  Grade IV-V.

IV. Danza

III. Giocoso

II. Dolce, pio

I. Allegro energico

Available from Cimarron Music Press: www.cimarronmusic.com/jerk

A fantastic performance by commissioners Emily Judd and Katie Rudzik of JERK! From Emily's senior recital, March 15th, 2015.


Composer's Notes:
For Emily Judd and Katie Rudzik

We all have at least one person in our lives we cannot stand but put up with. When this interaction occurs most people present a calm composure but internally there is a litany of frustration. The energetic horns represent this range of emotion with the extremes of the instrument: large intervals between parts, repetitive and jagged sixteenth note patterns, and gnarly falls that mimic a snarl of the title.

Contrary to this inspiration the performers I wrote this for are two of the nicest people I had the pleasure of meeting in Orlando. Their enthusiasm and advice were crucial to the formation of this work.

JERK for Two Horns(Live)

Click here to purchase: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/kids-in-the-corner-digital-sheet-music/22545229

Composer’s Notes:
	Kids in the Corner is a piece especially composed for Thomas Smith, a family friend and former trumpeter, as a personal thank you for his generous donation to my “ Get Matt to Maryland”  Rally via rally.org.
	With this work I aimed to explore some dance styles that don’t tend to be invited to other suites. I wanted to challenge myself with these various styles while infusing the quirkiness of Thomas into the heart of the piece.

I. Hip
	This summer I was able to pass through New York City on my way to a graduate school audition. On the train ride there I ended up next to a kid who was grooving to music I could hear snippets of through his headphones. This movement reflects characteristics of the sounds I heard on my way into the city.

II. One for the lovebirds…
	It’s time to cuddle up next to your partner and take a trip down memory lane. This movement is an ode to the slow songs one may have experienced from a dance in the 1950’s.

III. Swung
	For quite some time I have been intrigued with early instrumental dances and this movement explores their defining characteristics while hinting at this work’s overall structure.

IV. Posh, Prim, and Proper
	This axiomatic propinquity of the Minuet and Trio is a coruscating combination of tonal and temporal creation. A suite as brilliant as this is but an inchoate one without homage to music’s finest moment. It is propitious that I elucidated an exposition featuring a Bach cello suite with motives from the Brahms Requiem in fugal counterpoint set against themes by Mahler. 

V. Jig
	A trumpet player I was performing with was warming up before a concert and cascading a peculiar series of long tones in to the hall. After he finished I approached him and asked him what he was playing. What he revealed to me was hilarious and this movement is homage to that occurrence.

- Matthew Nunes
Windsor, December 2014.

IV. Posh, Prim, And Proper

Purchase this piece: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/clarinet-trio-no-1-digital-sheet-music/22540569

Clarinet Trio No. 1
For Two Bb Soprano Clarinets and Bb Bass Clarinet (Doubling Soprano)

Composer’s Notes

I. Capriccio
This lively capriccio features a bouncy melody that is imitated in canon through the other two clarinets. Then the descending fourth motive introduced early is developed in a series of succinct statements. The movement ends with a three part canon with each clarinet racing against the others.

II. Elegy*
After someone leaves our lives there are lingering reminders of the pain of their absence combined with the sweetness of the happiest memories. The middle section represents a flashback to happier times yet the sustained notes hint that something is not quite right. In the end the melody is unable to resolve as it should yet those around it continue on their way.
*Please note that the bass clarinet player should play soprano clarinet for this movement only.

III. Frenetic
This piece would not have been written were it not for the prodding of my friend and fellow composer Felix Rivera. I would joke with him that he may never write a piece not based on tritones and he quipped back that I may never write a piece for clarinets. I decided it was time to fix not having a clarinet selection in my repertoire and this work is the result. This movement is a frenetic and virtuosic dance based off of Rivera’s signature interval of the tritone.

(You can hear more of Felix Rivera's music by following this link to his Soundcloud page: https://soundcloud.com/frivera)

- Matthew Nunes
Windsor, September 2014 - March 2015

III. Frenetic

II. Elegy

I. Capriccio

Now available from Cimarron Music Press: https://www.cimarronmusic.com/concertoforeuphoniumnunes

Premiered April 21st, 2016 by Dr. Gail Robertson and the Little Rock Wind Symphony - Israel Getzov, conductor

Composer’s Notes:
           This Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band was composed for one of my former teachers and fellow euphonist Dr. Gail Robertson. For this work I based the material around pitches corresponding to each letter of her first name: G = G natural; A = A natural; I = Ionian, or the current key’s tonic, C natural; L = Lydian, or the fourth degree of the current key, F natural. Each movement is derived in some way from this figure.

          The work begins with an energetic fanfare and a taste of the second theme. The euphonium enters with similar pomp and dazzling virtuosity that settles into more heroic statements. Next, the euphonium soars over thick ensemble textures in a tender reflection. Finally, the soloist charges forth in a ferocious display of dexterity and power.
 
- Matthew Nunes
Windsor, May 2015

Concerto For Euphonium - III. Ferociously

Concerto For Euphonium - II. Tenderly

Concerto For Euphonium - I. Energetically

Now available from Cimarron Music Press:
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/concertoforeuphoniumnunes

Matthew Nunes, euphonium
Montclair State University Wind Symphony, Dr. Thomas McCauley, conductor
(Feb. 8th live performance)

As winner of Montclair State University's 7th Annual Concerto Competition I had the unique honor of performing my very own Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band with the MSU Wind Symphony.


About the Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band:
Premiered April 21st, 2016 by Dr. Gail Robertson and the Little Rock Wind Symphony - Israel Getzov, Conductor

This Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band was composed for one of my former teachers and fellow euphonist Dr. Gail Robertson. For this work I based the material around pitches corresponding to each letter of her first name: G = G natural; A = A natural; I = Ionian, or the current key’s tonic, C natural; L = Lydian, or the fourth degree of the current key, F natural. Each movement is derived in some way from this figure.

The work begins with an energetic fanfare and a taste of the second theme. The euphonium enters with similar pomp and dazzling virtuosity that settles into more heroic statements. Next, the euphonium soars over thick ensemble textures in a tender reflection. Finally, the soloist charges forth in a ferocious display of dexterity and power.

Matthew Nunes performs I. Energetically from Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band by Matthew Nunes

http://www.matthewnunesmusic.com/large-ensemble.html

We cannot always paint flowers... (2018)
for Wind Ensemble
 
We cannot always paint flowers...was commissioned by Amy Emelianoff and the Newark Academy Wind Ensemble and premiered on April 29th, 2018. The work is inspired by two quotes from Karel Husa that concern his resounding Music for Prague 1968 (1969):

“It is not as beautiful a music as one always would like to hear. But we cannot always paint flowers, we cannot always speak in poetry about beautiful clouds, there are sometimes we would like to express the fight for freedom.” (Music for Prague 1968 Program Notes)

and:

“I don’t think of it as a political message for one country. It is universal.”
(Los Angeles Times interview with Karel Husa by Marc Shulgold. March 1st, 1986 “‘Music for Prague’: Karel Husa: Putting His Convictions to Music”.)

Now, fifty years after the events that inspired his response, Husa’s words remain as timely as ever. Human rights, equality, government, education, the environment, healthcare, and so much more are fights we as global citizens must keep fighting for. One must not forget that sometimes the most necessary battles are the ones presented in the smallest packages.

This piece runs the gamut of hope/anxiety, seriousness/mockery, and tragedy/comedy with a musical language only the time and place of its composition could provide. As the seniors of the Newark Academy Wind Ensemble chose the theme of resistance/rebellion for this commission their instruments (alto and baritone saxophone, trumpet, and percussion) have vital roles in the dramaturgy of the piece.

To Sam, Ezra, Thomas, and Benjy: as you move to the next chapter in your lives remember the opportunities you have been provided and use your experiences wisely for the benefit of those around you. No, we cannot always paint flowers...but we must remember why we fight for the opportunities to do so.  
​
- Matthew Nunes
January 17th – February 1st, 2018
Windsor, Connecticut

If you are interested in performing this work or would like a perusal score please email me at mnunes.composer@hotmail.com

We cannot always paint flowers...(2018)for Wind Ensemble

Purchase this piece: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/song-without-words-for-euphonium-and-piano-digital-sheet-music/22082485

A symphony, snared in just a name.
An opera, to end with bursts of flame.
A ballet, that leapt from her tongue and dances in my ear.
A requiem, for you are not here.

- August 24th, 2018
Niceville, Florida

Song without words for Euphonium and Piano

Click here to purchase: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/no-longer-at-ease-for-euphonium-quartet-digital-sheet-music/22540572

No Longer at Ease is a stand-alone euphonium quartet inspired by Chinua Achebe’s 1960 novel of the same name. In Achebe’s novel a young man is sent to University by his village’s elders in the hopes he will return able to guide and protect his people through uncertain and unwanted colonialist developments. However, the man abandons their plans to pursue his own interests and faces the fallout of his actions upon his return home and in the volatile years to come. Reading such an affective work in the final semester of my Masters preparing to return home was timely and I have found the similarities between my life and Achebe’s art blurred. I began writing this work upon returning home to Niceville, Florida and realizing that both myself and the town I call home have changed drastically.

The piece begins with jarring sixteenth-notes derived from a rising arpeggiated-tetrachord. Ceaseless double tonguing, the lead in the fourth euphonium, and unsettling metric shifts combine for unique and frenetic effects. A yearning melody enters amidst this chaos and is a musical spelling of “home”. The return and developments of the frenetic material culminates in a solo statement of this theme. The middle section represents the home of years past and features a uniquely Niceville quote with fragments of the Niceville High School fight song. These fragments make up each independent line and the music culminates in a triumphant victory. However, this victory is cut brief by the cutting sixteenth-note driven material from earlier. The finale is an exciting mockery of the “home” theme with interjections and exploitations of all previous themes.

No Longer at Ease for Euphonium Quartet

Purchase this piece: https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/curtains-for-brass-band-and-narrator-digital-sheet-music/22535256

Curtains for Brass Band and Narrator (2020) by Matthew Nunes
Text by Jessica Mitford extracted from her 1963 essay "Behind the
Formaldehyde Curtain"

Composer's Notes:
Jessica Mitford’s incisive 1963 essay "Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain" is the inspiration for this piece. Mitford dissects the embalming industry while baring the ironies and inhumanities of its processes. First included in her book "The American Way of Death", we follow “Mr. Jones” from death to burial and experience all the
tools, techniques, and abuses in-between. It was required reading for me as a high school junior and a text that grows more haunting with each added birthday candle.

The piece follows “Mr. Jones” on his journey with narrated extracts from Mitford’s essay. The opening chords are constructed from the pitches D-flat, E-flat, A-flat, and another D-flat, following Igor Stravinsky’s final chord in "The Rite of Spring" (D-E-A-D). From here the material alternates between chromatically descending, as the corpse nears its final resting place, and ascending, while the embalmers fight to champion death.

- Matthew Nunes
Niceville, July 2020

Curtains for Brass Band and Narrator

This piece is available from Cimarron Music Press:
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/catalog/product/view/id/12517/s/ashe/

Commissioned and premiered by Ashley Klumpp

	The basis for this work is inspired by Robert Schumann’s piano piece Carnaval (1834) and a technique he used to compose it. Schumann’s piece features pitches that spell out names of a town, a friend, and a lover as the melodic basis for each movement. With Ashe I used four letters from Ashley’s name that serve as the melodic pitches and are frequently used throughout: A = A-natural;     S = Es, or E-flat; H = B-natural*; and E = E-natural.
*(in this piece I substitute B-natural with Bb)

Ashe for Solo Euphonium

http://www.matthewnunesmusic.com/chamber-ensemblesduets.html

Dedicated to Dr. Sun Mi Ro

Composer's Notes: 
Breaking Day represents how small problems in a relationship can develop into more complex ones and begin to dissolve it. A simple grudge turns to a confrontation and from there it breaks apart. The set (014) is the basic building block, or grundgestalt, of the entire work and grows with each movement. 


I. Grudges (0:00 - 1:18)
- Unwilling to let go of previous events or confrontations resentment is sustained in the relationship. Harbored deeply and safe inside the inability of release it is free to feed and grow. 

II. Vitriol (1:21 - 2:00)
– The grudge has grown in severity and creates an argument between the couple. Caustic words are released in the confrontation and the brief encounter threatens the security of the relationship. Both sides get their say and are extreme and unrelenting.

III. Schism (2:02 - 3:57)
– The harbored resentment has turned to anger. The anger has turned to uncontrolled outbursts of hate from both sides. Feelings are now too complex to define. There is no turning back – the relationship must be broken.

Breaking Day for Two Violins

www.MatthewNunesMusic.com

Matthew Nunes (ASCAP) is a euphoniumist and composer on the rise. 2017 was a breakout year as he advanced to the Leonard Falcone International Tuba-Euphonium Festival's Euphonium Artist semi-finals, and won the Montclair State University Concerto Competition with his own Concerto for Euphonium (2015). In 2012 he won the University of Central Florida Concerto/Aria Competition for Band – earning the distinction of being the first euphonium player to win since Dr. Gail Robertson. He has played with the Brass Band of Central Florida and has had multiple orchestra opportunities. He earned his Master’s in Euphonium Performance at Montclair State University studying with Derek Fenstermacher. His performance teachers include Tim Van Dam, Dr. Gail Robertson, Dr. Robin Sisk, Derek Fenstermacher, and Bente Illevold. 

Matthew is a published composer and arranger with works available from Cimarron Music Press and SheetMusicPlus.com. His Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band was premiered by Dr. Gail Robertson and the Little Rock Wind Symphony in 2016, while his In League with Extraordinary Women (Concerto for Tuba and Wind Band) was premiered by Dr. Robin Sisk and the University of Florida Symphonic Band in 2018. In late 2021 he completed his Symphony for Orchestra and Choir, a massive and emotionally intense work. Matthew earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition from UCF studying with Christopher Marshall. 

Theory and research are important to Matthew, and in late 2019 his article Mystery, Necromancy, and the Euphonium was published in Vol. 47, No. 1 of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association Journal. 

My music is available from these publishers:
CIMARRON MUSIC PRESS
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=%22nunes%22

SHEET MUSIC PLUS DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/search?Ntt=%22matthew+nunes+music%22

Matthew Nunes - Composer

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks