Matthew Bennett, an eighth grader at Mahtomedi Middle School, is 14 years old and lives in White Bear Lake with his parents, younger sister and two brothers. He began taking piano lessons during first grade and in third grade joined Dr. Reid Smith’s Dellwood Hills Studio. Matthew has been performing since that time in his church, nursing homes, school and numerous piano recitals.
He participated in the 2013 Vincenzo Balzani Master Class and received a performance award for his participation during the 2014 Alexender Yakovlev Master Class. In 2014 he was selected as one of the Wildwood Artist Series scholarship recipients and performed for the Wildwood Artist Series in September, 2014. He attended the 2014 International Lovere Festival in Italy and performed the First Movement of the Haydn Concerto in D Major with the Milan Chamber Orchestra. He additionally performed selected Italy festival pieces at Landmark Center in St. Paul. In 2016 he attended, competed and was awarded first place at the Beyond the Piano International Piano Festival in Benasque, Spain for his performances, which included the Third Movement of the Mozart Concerto No. 20 in D minor performed with the Beyond the Music Chamber Orchestra. He recently attended the St. Petersburg, Russia International Piano Festival – “Grand Piano in Palace”, where he was awarded second place for his performance of the Third Movement of the Mozart Concerto No. 23 in A Major and third place for his solo performance of several other pieces.
Matthew currently accompanies the St. Pius X Church high school music ministry group Fireproof and often plays regular masses. He is an avid trumpet player and a member of three school bands. He was selected to be a member of the 2016-2017 NE Minnesota Band Directors Association Honor Band.
He enjoys biking, hiking, playing his trumpet, camping and reading.
