Matthew Nowlan (he/him) enjoys a multifaceted career as a performing arts administrator, professional violist, and political scientist. Matthew holds a degree in Political Science with research concentrating in World Politics and Global Business from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a student, he studied viola with Professor Liz Freivogel and chamber music with Professor Daniel McDonough, both from the renowned Jupiter String Quartet. Matthew is currently a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Sinfonia da Camera, and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. He also frequently performs as a substitute in the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and local Chicagoland orchestras. Matthew has won Principal Viola positions in the University of Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Midwest Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2018, he was selected as a member of the U.S. All-National Honors Orchestra that took place in Orlando, Florida. He has also participated in the Illinois Music Educator Conference as both a performer and exhibitor, Birch Creek Music Academy, Midwest Summer Chamber Music (as a performer and later as an instructor), and the Chicago, NYC, and LA International Music Festivals. Under the baton of renown conductors, Matthew has performed at internationally acclaimed venues including Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center in Chicago, Carnegie Hall and Zankel Hall in New York City, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna, Austria, and Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria. As a member of the Bravura String Quartet from 2016 to 2020, he performed at the Chicago Symphony Center, the Hemmens Cultural Center, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, and numerous recitals, weddings, and community events. Matthew started learning the violin at age 5 with the late Anne Donahue and Taka Matsunaga, and later became a full time violist. Other notable mentors include Klaus Makela, Teng Li, Ken David-Masur, Kirsten Docter, ECCO, Denise Djokic, Nelson Lee, Rudolf Haken, Carolyn Watson, Stephen Alltop, Ian Hobson, and the late Matthew Mantell to name a few. As a passionate music educator, Matthew has privately taught violin, viola, and chamber music, and also currently serves as the Marketing and Events Director of the Midwest Fine Arts Society, Music School Administrator of the Midwest Conservatory of Music, and has previously worked at the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Institute in Brunswick, Maine. Besides his love for music, Matthew avidly travels, enjoys cooking, and loves spending time with his cat Louie.