Matthew Peckham is a multi-disciplinary Chicago-based artist and arts entrepreneur. A graduate of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (BM 2012), and the Chicago College of Performing Arts (MM 2015), he has performed in operas, musicals, and choruses in numerous venues across the United States. His performances have been described by critics as “facile,” “fresh,” and “inspired.”

As an entrepreneur, Matthew has a special interest in fostering new works and in building sustainable arts institutions. Projects in Chicago have included co-founding the Chicago Vocal Arts Consortium, serving on the inaugural board of Thompson Street Opera Company, and helping to grow the classical music recording company Atlas Arts Media, where he currently works as Director of Operations. Many projects that Matt has helped launch have gone on to receive national recognition. Most recently, Rossa Crean’s opera The Great God Pan received the 2018/19 American Prize in Opera Performance. Matthew assisted both as a performer and recording technician in the pilot recording that led to Chicago Fringe Opera’s world premiere production in 2018.

His award-winning work as a performer, AV designer, and audio engineer has been recognized by organizations including the Roosevelt University Presidential Awards for Social Justice (Considering Matthew Shepard, CCPA 2019), and DCASE: The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (There Always, Something Sings, Midwest and East Coast tour, 2018/19)

As a frequent performer of new music, Matthew has worked with many living composers on projects including the world premieres of Rootabaga Stories, by Yvonne Freckman, and Jonathan Hannau’s Pierrot Songs. Other collaborators include Daron Hagen, Erik Lindsay, Rossa Crean, Paul Winchester, Ezra Donner, and Chappell Kingsland. Last year, as the recipient of a grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Matthew toured the Midwest and East Coast with the recital There Always, Something Sings, featuring a program of music by living American composers about power of interfaith understanding and the shared core beliefs of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.