Singer and Musician
Matthew Gailey is a vocal artist, composer and music director with roots in the gospel, electronic, soul and pop genres. Currently Matthew performs with Portland vocal group Resonance Ensemble and has a solo live looping act VoxOwl combining elements of augmented reality with both VR and real instruments, soulful vocals, lofi beats and ear-candy synths creating an extremely unique audio and visual experience for live shows.
Matthew's life as a performer has taken him from singing in gospel choirs and fronting big bands in the US and Europe to performing in Opera and Musical Theatre. Local collaborations include the Portland Cello Project, China Forbes with the Bureau of Standards Big Band, Andres St James, Ron Steen and others. Matthew has been a featured performer at events like Portland Monthly Magazine’s Light a Fire Awards, Weiden Kennedy’s Community Holiday Showcase and Portland Parks and Recreation Summer Concert in the Park series. Other highlights include performances as a soloist with Brazilian world beat group PopGoji and Resonance Ensemble. Matthew strives to create community through music whether in the role of singer, music director or songwriter.
Educator and Music Director
In his work as a choral conductor, music director and arts educator Matthew has held a variety of roles at PHAME an arts community and non-profit for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities as well as a stint at the Oregon Symphony as the Director of Education and Community Engagement. His specialties include directing music ensembles, music technology, vocal coaching, and building arts curricula that places equal emphasis on the classroom and the stage as arenas for learning and growth. Highlights include appearing as a featured presenter on arts access at TedX Portland with PHAME as well as a special guest appearance with OPB discussing iPads as tools for performance and composition on stage and in the music classroom.
Matthew holds a BA in Music Education from Florida Southern College where he studied with jazz great Nat Adderly and studied opera theatre and jazz vocal performance at Indiana University’s graduate music program with renowned baritone Andreas Poulimenos and jazz luminary David Baker.
