Matthew H. Corl

b. 1965

Organist and composer Matthew H. Corl, AAGO is a graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where he received the Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music in 1987. His teachers at Westminster included Joan Lippincott (organ), Robin Leaver (Church Music), and Allen Crowell (choral conducting). Matthew also attended the Preparatory Department of the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore where he was an organ student of Dr. Paul Davis. Matthew has earned the Colleague and Associate certificates from the American Guild of Organists.

As a recitalist, Matthew has performed throughout Florida, including performances as soloist in Poulenc’s Organ Concerto and Saint-Seans’ Organ Symphony with the Imperial Symphony. As a composer, he has written works for organ, choir, handbells, and orchestra. Matthew was a Carl F. Mueller Scholar in Church Music Composition while a student at Westminster, and was a finalist in the Choral Composition Competition at Ithaca College in 1989. Three of his compositions for organ were included in the Bayoubuchlein collection, specially published for the 2016 convention of the American Guild of Organists in Houston, Texas. Morningstar, Alfred, Concordia, Oxford, and Selah publish his organ, piano, instrumental and choral compositions.

While a student at Westminster Matthew served as Director of Music and Organist at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Trenton, New Jersey. Since 1987, he has been Associate Director of Music and Organist at First United Methodist Church in Lakeland, Florida where he is principal organist and directs several ensembles.