Matthew Whitaker Biography

Matthew Whitaker, a blind composer, arranger, and musician, was the winner of the 2016 #ShowtimeApollo Amateur Night. Matthew Whitaker, who was born in Hackensack, New Jersey in 2001, grew up surrounded by music. His passion for music began when his grandfather handed him a tiny Yamaha piano when he was three years old. Matthew began learning to play the Hammond B3 organ when he was nine years old. He became the youngest performer to be sponsored by Hammond in the company's 80-year history four years later. At the age of 15, he was also awarded a Yamaha Artist, making him the youngest performer to join the illustrious club of jazz pianists. Matthew has studied classical piano and drums at The Filomena M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School of the Lighthouse Guild in NYC for several years. In the United States, it is the only community music school for the blind and visually handicapped. He also attends the Precollege Jazz Program at the Manhattan School of Music. He was a member of the Jazz House Big Band and the Organ Messengers at Jazz House Kids in Montclair, NJ, and previously studied at The Harlem School of the Arts. Matthew has won the "Outstanding Soloist Award" at the Charles Mingus High School Competition & Festival and the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Fest, both held at Jazz at Lincoln Center. The Harlem International Film Festival honored him with the title of "Most Remarkable Young Person on Screen." He's already performed in front of The Youth Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, as well as on other world-renowned stages such as the Lincoln Center Center for the Performing Arts, the Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, and Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC; the SFJAZZ Center in San Francisco; the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC; and The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in Florida. Ray Chew, Christian McBride, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Rhoda Scott, Cameron Carpenter, Regina Carter, Jon Batiste, Cory Henry, Marc Cary, Arturo O'Farrill, James Carter, Roy Ayers, D.D. Jackson, The New York Pops Orchestra, and Hamiet Bluiett and his Bio-Electric Ensemble are among the musicians Matthew has worked with. Matthew took first place in the “Child Stars of Tomorrow” competition held as part of Amateur Night at the Apollo in 2010. He was invited to play at Stevie Wonder's induction into the Apollo Theater's Hall of Fame a year later when he was just ten years old. Matthew has studied classical piano and drums at The Filomena M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School of the Lighthouse Guild in NYC for several years. In the United States, it is the only community music school for the blind and visually handicapped. He also attends the Precollege Jazz Program at the Manhattan School of Music. He was a member of the Jazz House Big Band and the Organ Messengers at Jazz House Kids in Montclair, NJ, and previously studied at The Harlem School of the Arts. Matthew has won the "Outstanding Soloist Award" at the Charles Mingus High School Competition & Festival and the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Fest, both held at Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 2017, he was named one of the 17 persons to watch in New Jersey by The Record, one of the state's major newspapers, and a performer on Crain's Business New York's 20 under 20 list. Matthew was selected one of the top seven rising talents in the USA Today network's 201 Magazine for 2018.

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