FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is pleased to announce the appointments of alumni Ingrid Matthews and Jonathan Oddie to its Historical Performance Department faculty, effective Aug. 1.
Matthews, one of today’s most respected baroque violinists, has been appointed visiting associate professor of music in historical performance: baroque violin.
Oddie, in demand nationally as a versatile performer on harpsichord, fortepiano and continuo organ, has been appointed visiting associate professor of music in historical performance: historical keyboards.
“We couldn’t be more pleased to welcome Ingrid Matthews and Jonathan Oddie as Historical Performance faculty members,” said Jeremy Allen, David Henry Jacobs Bicentennial Dean (Interim). “The experience and artistry each of them brings to the school will be transformative for our students, and I am really looking forward to working with them.”
Cofounding the Seattle Baroque Orchestra in 1994, Matthews served as its music director until 2013.
After studying with Josef Gingold and Stanley Ritchie at Jacobs, Matthews won first prize at the Erwin Bodky International Competition for Early Music in 1989.
She has appeared as soloist, guest director, chamber musician and concertmaster with leading early music ensembles including the New York Collegium, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, among many others.
Matthews has also won critical acclaim for her extensive discography. Her recording “J. S. Bach: Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Violin” was named “top recommendation for this music … on either period or modern instruments” by American Record Guide.
“Ingrid’s leadership and achievements in our field are legendary,” said Dana Marsh, chair of the Jacobs Historical Performance Department and director of its Historical Performance Institute. “A widely acknowledged interpreter of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music, she will bring a wealth of insight and perspective to the Jacobs School. As a chamber collaborator and ensemble leader, her ability to inspire is irresistible. She has a seemingly limitless reservoir of positive personal energy that will be both uplifting and nurturing for our students.”
As a continuo player, Oddie works with leading musicians including violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky and flutist Janet See, and with orchestras including Portland Baroque Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony.
Oddie has performed on chamber music series including Gallery Concerts Seattle and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and has been featured as a soloist with the Northwest Sinfonietta and Saratoga Orchestra.
His Jacobs School of Music teachers included Elisabeth Wright, Jean-Louis Haguenauer and Edmund Battersby. Oddie also holds a doctorate in musicology from the University of Oxford, where he researched the instrumental music of English composer Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625).
Oddie’s research has been published in the journals Early Music and Historical Performance. His awards include a Frank Huntington Beebe Fellowship.
“Having earned top-notch qualifications—both as an exemplary performer and in academic research—Jonathan evinces a dynamic balance in these areas that is all too rare,” said Marsh. “As a keyboardist, his instrumental, stylistic and interpretive ranges are enviably vast. He will be an important and sought-after resource for students and colleagues alike.”
