Our Music Director

---

Currently Assistant Professor of Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, Matthew Poon’s career embraces an eclectic range of interests. As a music theorist, his research primarily focuses on issues of musical form and the analysis of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Western music; however, he also pursues secondary interests in music perception and harmony in Japanese anime music. He has articles published in Music Theory Online, Indiana Theory Review, Journal of the International Conductors Guild,and Frontiers in Psychology, a forthcoming publication in Music Theory Spectrum, and has presented papers at the Society for Music Theory, Society for Music Perception and Cognition, and regional conferences in Canada and the United States.

As a conductor, Matthew serves as the music director of the St. Croix Valley Orchestra, located on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as the Chippewa Valley Youth Symphony in Eau Claire. He was most recently the music director of the Strings Attached Orchestra in Toronto, a community string orchestra whose charitable mission involves bringing live music to hospitals and long-term care centers. Prior to that, he served as conductor of the Toronto Chinese Orchestra (an orchestra consisting of traditional Chinese instruments) and assistant conductor of the Kindred Spirits Orchestra, McMaster University Choir, and McMaster Women’s Vocal Ensemble (now the Cantemus Vocal Ensemble). He maintains close connections with the performing arts scene in Toronto as music director of the ME & Lau Family Foundation’s biennial concerts, which feature professional musicians working alongside students with intellectual disabilities.

Matthew holds Ph.D., M.A., and M.M. degrees from the University of Toronto, a B.M. and diploma from McMaster University, and an A.R.C.T. diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto). He previously taught music theory at Oberlin College & Conservatory and the University of Toronto, and conducting at Tyndale University in Toronto.

Research and Creative Activities

• Modern theories of musical form
• Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century instrumental music

Education

• Ph.D. in music theory, University of Toronto
• M.A. in music theory, University of Toronto
• M.M. in orchestral conducting, University of Toronto
• B.M., McMaster University
• Diploma in music performance, McMaster University
• A.R.C.T. in piano performance, Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto)

Susan holds a Master of Music degree from Kent State University. For sixteen years, Susan taught public school orchestra in Clinton/Jackson, Mississippi, and Greenville, South Carolina. She has played cello in many orchestras, including the Oshkosh Symphony, Canton Symphony (OH), Meridian Symphony (MS), Mississippi Symphony, La Crosse Symphony, and presently the Red Cedar Symphony, Eau Claire Chamber Orchestra and the Chippewa Valley Symphony. She is the cellist and one of the founding members (2000-present) of the Chippewa Valley String Quartet, and is also a cellist in the Clear Water Chamber Players.

She has created cello ensembles, as well as an adult intermediate level orchestra known as The String Connection. Susan has taught private cello lessons since college and is now running a cello studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, under the name The Cello Connection.

She is a registered member/teacher of the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA) and a member of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA).