Matthew Aucoin

Aucoin's music is driven by the voice — his vocal writing has a natural, speech-inflected lyricism that avoids both atonal angularity and cheap populism. His orchestration is rich and atmospheric, with a Romantic amplitude that serves dramatic expression. His harmonic language is freely tonal, often hovering in luminous, ambiguous territories that create a sense of perpetual becoming. As a conductor, his intimate understanding of what singers and instrumentalists need gives his scores a practical intelligence.

Aucoin studied at Harvard and the Peabody Institute, and has cited Britten, Janáček, and Debussy as key operatic influences. His dual career as conductor and composer echoes figures like Bernstein and Boulez, and his literary background (he's published a book of criticism and poetry) gives his text-setting an unusual literary sophistication. Collaborations with directors like Yuval Sharon have pushed his theatrical imagination.

Aucoin's early career moved remarkably fast — his first opera, Crossing (about Walt Whitman), was produced by American Repertory Theater while he was still in his twenties. Eurydice at the Met followed, establishing him as a leading operatic voice of his generation. His conducting career has developed in parallel, with appearances at Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Met, and other major houses. He continues to develop as both composer and conductor simultaneously.

Aucoin's opera Eurydice was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and premiered there in 2021 — an extraordinary achievement for a composer in his early thirties. The work, based on Sarah Ruhl's play, retells the Orpheus myth from Eurydice's perspective, giving the traditionally silent beloved a voice of her own.

Aucoin is also a published poet and essayist — his book The Impossible Art: Adventures in Opera explores the paradoxes of operatic storytelling with the insight of someone who works inside the art form, and it's one of the best books about opera by a living practitioner.

Aucoin is very much a rising star — his Met commission at 31 placed him in rare company, and his dual conductor-composer identity gives him unusually high visibility. Eurydice has received critical attention and audience enthusiasm. Expect to see more of his music programmed as opera companies and orchestras seek engaging new works by younger American composers. His name recognition among opera audiences is already strong.