Premiered by Ensemble Linea at the Festival aux Chandelles, in Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, France, on May 30, 2025.

'Thread' was commissioned by the Royaumont Foundation with support from Christine Jolivet Erlih.

Jeremie Fevre, flute
Andrea Nagy, clarinet
Ernst Spyckerelle, violin
Laurent Camatte, viola
Johannes Burghoff, violoncello
Carolina Santiago Martinez, piano
Jean-Phillippe Wurtz, conductor

Recorded by F. Gauvenet.

Additional mixing by Nathan Corder.

Thread [2025, for ensemble]

http://matthew-monaco.com

Composer/Pianist

Matthew Monaco (b. 1997) is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley. In 2022, Matthew received his master’s degree from the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSMDP), where he studied composition with Stefano Gervasoni and electronic music with Yan Maresz, Luis Naon, et Grégoire Lorieux. In May 2020, he received his Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Stratis Minakakis, minoring in music theory.

His works have been performed in the United States and Europe by groups such as Ensemble intercontemporain, Ensemble l’Itinéraire, Ensemble Court-circuit, the Callithumpian Consort, the Del Sol Quartet, the Brouwer Trio, members of Ensemble Linea, the Orchestre des lauréats du Conservatoire (of the Paris Conservatory), and others. Matthew’s music has been performed by conductors such as Hugh Wolff, Jean Deroyer, Stephen Drury, and Léo Margue, and featured in festivals including ManiFeste and Voix Nouvelles. His work with electronics has been performed in venues including Ircam, UC Berkeley’s CNMAT, and Stanford University’s CCRMA. Matthew served as Composer-in-Residence for the newly-formed Alinéa Ensemble during their inaugural season (2019-2020).

He has had masterclasses and lessons from composers including Kaija Saariaho, Tristan Murail, Philippe Leroux, Francesco Filidei, Philippe Manoury, Francesca Verunelli, Toshio Hosokawa, and Du Yun. From 2018-2020, Matthew co-curated NEC’s contemporary music series “Tuesday Night New Music”, where he developed monthly programs of intimate concert evenings highlighting premieres by NEC’s composers. From 2015-2016, he interned with the New York Philharmonic, working within the Young People’s Concerts, Very Young Composers program, and other educational programs. Matthew’s initial musical training focused on piano studies, jazz, and improvised music.

Matthew’s research focuses on intersections of phenomenology and music theory, creating a space for work-specific methods in contemporary music analysis. Current research investigates musico-grammatical paradigms in the music of Cecil Taylor.