About PMP: Program Descriptions: Staff

Matthew Levy, Director
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Matt joined the Philadelphia Music Project in 2000 with an extensive background in music performance, composition, and arts administration. Hailed by the Saxophone Journal as "a complete virtuoso of the tenor saxophone" and by the New York Times for his "energetic and enlivening" performances, Matt is a current and founding member of the PRISM Quartet, an award-winning, critically-acclaimed chamber ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music and modern jazz. Winners of two CMA/ASCAP Adventurous Programming Awards and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, PRISM has concertized extensively throughout the Americas, including performances in over 40 states and an extensive tour of Latin America under the auspices of the U. S. State Department. PRISM was the first saxophone quartet ever presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; made appearances on NPR's "Performance Today" and Entertainment Tonight; and most recently premiered a new concerto grosso by William Bolcom with a consortium of orchestras, including the Detroit and Dallas Symphony Orchestras and the Cleveland Orchestra. Matt serves as President of New Sounds Music, Incorporated, PRISM's nonprofit organization, and has been actively involved in fundraising and marketing on behalf of PRISM. He has successfully developed the ensemble's concert series and commissioning, recording, and residency programs.

Matt holds three degrees from the University of Michigan, where he was a James B. Angell Scholar and the first recipient of the Lawrence Teal Award. He has served on the faculties of Settlement Music School and the Universities of Michigan, Redlands, and Toledo. The recipient of a 2001 fellowship in composition from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Matt has composed works for orchestra, choir, musical theater, dance, and jazz and electronic music ensembles. He has scored four motion pictures, including PBS's Diary of a City Priest by Emmy nominee Eugene Martin, featured at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. His music has been described as "gorgeous and ethereal" by Classical Magazine and "pulsing and wittily colored" by the Philadelphia Inquirer and has been broadcasted on NPR's "Performance Today" from Washington DC, WQRS's "Around Town" from Detroit, WQXR's "The Listening Room" from New York City, WFMT's "Dame Myra Hess Series" from Chicago, CBC, and "Voice of America." He has recorded for Koch International, CRI, Innova, Deutsche Grammophon, Grammavision, and Tdzaik and is an artist/clinician for the Selmer Company.

Emily Sweeney, Senior Program Associate
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Emily joined PMP as Program Associate in August 2006. She holds her B.A. in Dance and Literature from Bennington College, and comes to PMP with a variety of professional experiences, including previous employment as a publicist and copywriter for Breslow Partners, and also as a production intern for WNYC New York Public Radio. Emily is an active member of Philadelphia’s modern and improvisational dance scene, performing with Amnesiac Dance, as well as making and presenting her own work as co-founder of Perpetual Mvmt< >Snd, an interdisciplinary performance group in residence at the Mascher Space Cooperative. She grew up in Vermont the member of an adamantly musical family, and has been involved in the arts ever since she requested violin and ballet lessons at the age of five.

Willa Rohrer, Program Assistant
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Willa Rohrer joined PMP in May 2007. A Philadelphia native, she has worked as a research and production assistant for documentary filmmaker (and 1997 Pew Fellow) Glenn Holsten, and as a freelance writer and editorial assistant. She has written about books, live arts, and the perils (and pleasures) of riding public transportation for Philadelphia Weekly. Willa graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania.