Matthew Oltman

Matthew Oltman is music director emeritus of Chanticleer, with whom he led 300 concerts in more than a dozen countries during his tenure. He conducted over 450 high school choral and orchestral students from across the country in Chanticleer's first National Youth Choral Festival, The Singing Life, on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall and led numerous day-long Youth Choral Festivals in communities in several states. He was a featured clinician at the first Anúna International Choral Summer School (Ireland) and has led countless clinics and master classes with choirs from across the globe. Oltman first joined Chanticleer in 1999 as a tenor and in 2004 was named assistant music director under Joseph Jennings, a post which he held until his appointment as music director in 2009. During his decade singing with the ensemble, he appeared on twelve albums and toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. During the 2011–2012 academic year, Oltman served as guest director of choral activities at University of California, Berkeley, where he conducted the University Choir and the University Chamber Singers. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Oltman earned a BM in vocal performance from Simpson College and an MA in music from the University of York in England with the aid of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.