Photo credit: Stan Engebretson
American conductor Matthew Robertson (b. 1986) is the founder and driving force of the professional choir and orchestra The Thirteen, which he has led in more than two hundred concerts, two dozen concert tours, nine commercial recordings, and numerous world premieres. Noted for boundary-defying performances that “transfigure the listener” (The Washington Post), for his “incisive tempos and dramatic pacing” (Washington Classical Review) and “flowing lines and dramatic climaxes”(Fanfare Magazine, UK), Robertson’s boundless artistic vision has led to acclaimed performances of a vast and varied repertoire, often featuring inspired use of staging and multimedia and to The Thirteen’s winning the Most Creative Programming Award from the Greater Washington Area Choral Music Awards.
Recognized as a leader in the field, Robertson advances the frontier of vocal music performance, reimagining music from the entirety of the classical music canon. Equally at home in well-loved classics and contemporary works, Robertson tackles works by Renaissance and Baroque masters and contemporary composers with equal skill. For example, Robertson’s curation of Monteverdi’s end-of-life magnum opus Selva morale resulted in concerts in The Lost Vespers series, while his performance of contemporary composer David Lang’s the little match girl passion was praised by Anne Midgette of The Washington Post: “In contrast to the Tallis Scholars’ slightly dry sound, The Thirteen sings with striking color and richness.” Robertson’s passion for reinterpreting masterpieces has led to staged performances of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion and Johannes Brahms’ Requiem, and the use of projected images in Kile Smith’s The Consolation of Apollo, Scott Ordway’s The Outer Edge of Youth, and the Washington, D.C. premiere of Talbot’s Path of Miracles.
Drawing on his deep commitment to addressing important issues of our time, Robertson’s programming frequently tackles the topics of ecology and systemic racism. His concerts Sing Willow (2020), From Tree to Shining Tree (2019), and Ordway’s Outer Edge of Youth (2022) addressed the existential threat of climate change. His staged 2021 performance of J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion addressed the theme of systemic racism and was called “an indictment of injustice” (The Washington Post). He frequently commissions underrepresented voices, including composers Juhi Bansal, Melissa Dunphy, Lori Laitman, Hilary Purrington, Trevor Weston, and Jonathan Woody. In 2019 he created The Thirteen’s Vocal Fellows Program, an initiative for young singers from underrepresented demographics that debuted in 2021.
Committed to fostering the next generation of musicians and music lovers, Robertson has led educational residencies at more than twenty colleges and universities, including Yale University and The University of Maryland – College Park, where he led a staged performance of Johannes Brahms’ Requiem. He has also directed educational outreach for young people throughout the Washington, D.C. region, including with the LGBTQ+ teen choir, GenOUT.
Robertson’s growing discography with The Thirteen of nine commercially released albums, including the recently released Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610 with Dark Horse Consort and the Children’s Chorus of Washington and The Outer Edge of Youth, of which Gramophone wrote “…Robertson’s pacing is faultless, and he shows how silences and breaths are as important in this music as the notes themselves." He enjoys a fruitful relationship with Acis Records: Truth & Fable received four stars from Choir & Organ and Fanfare when it was released in September 2019, and recently released Monteverdi: The ‘Lost’ Vespers with them in 2024.
Robertson also serves as Director of Music at Bradley Hills Church in Bethesda, MD. Leading the Bradley Hills Choir and Orchestra of the Hills, Robertson has performed much of J.S. Bach’s oeuvre, the requiems of Brahms, Duruflé, Fauré, and Mozart, Arvo Pärt’s Passio, Buxtehude’s Jesu membra nostri, Carissimi’s Jephte, and many other masterworks. Robertson is a Trustee of the Denyce Graves Foundation and has also served on the Board of the DC area chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association and on the faculty of Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute. Robertson holds a M.M. in conducting from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he studied with Andrew Megill and Joe Miller, and was the Robert P. Fountain scholar at Oberlin Conservatory where he studied with Bridget Reischl and Robert Spano. A native Washingtonian, Robertson’s early musical formation included studies with Norman Scribner and J. Reilly Lewis.