- Home
- About
- Ensembles
- Degrees & Programs
- Faculty & Staff
- Students
Dr. Matthew Darling
Dr. Matthew Darling is an Associate Professor of Music at California
State University Fresno, where he has taught and headed the percussion area
since 1991, and served as interim chair of the Department of Music from spring
2005 to spring 2006. Darling actively performs with the Fresno Philharmonic
and is the principal timpanist/percussionist with both the Music in the Mountains
Festival Orchestra in Nevada City and the Arizona Musicfest in Carefree.
A Sacramento native, Darling received his Bachelor of Music degree in percussion
performance from Sacramento State in 1987. He performed regularly as a percussionist
with the Sacramento Symphony from 1986 to 1995, and continues to perform
with the Sacramento Philharmonic, acting as principal percussionist with
the group during the 1997-1998 season. Darling has also performed with several
other orchestras in California, Arizona and Nevada including the San Francisco
Ballet Orchestra, Reno Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Tucson Symphony, Modesto
Symphony, and Bear Valley Music Festival Orchestra. Darling has also performed
as a percussionist/drummer with a wide variety of artists and productions,
including Chuck Berry, Dionne Warwick, Henry Mancini, Bill Conti, Doc Severinsen,
the Canadian Brass, and Sacramento's Music Circus, as well as a national
tour stop in Fresno of The Producers.
An avid supporter of new music for percussion, Dr. Darling has been involved with the premiere of dozens of solo and chamber works for percussion and will perform two newly commissioned marimba concertos in the next year, one by renowned composer David Gillingham and the other by Fresno State's composition professor Dr. Kenneth Froelich. Dr. Froelich's piece, titled Accidental Migration, will be premiered on a concert featuring the Fresno State Percussion Ensemble at the CMEA Convention in Ontario (CA) on March 15, 2007. Darling has appeared as an adjudicator, clinician, performer, and/or presenter all around the United States at festivals, universities, state and international music conventions, including the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), CMEA, and CBDA, and has also published a research article in the Percussive Notes journal chronicling the life of John Philip Sousa percussionist John J. Heney. Darling holds a Doctorate in Musical Arts from the University of Arizona and a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University. He resides in Fresno with his wife and their four children.