Matthew Bishop

Matt Bishop is Director of Music & Arts at First Presbyterian Church of Davenport, where he conducts the Sanctuary Choir, Chamber Chorale, Vesper Bells, Quad City Youth Choir, and the Justice Choir of the Midwest. Matt also is curator of the church's Performing Arts Series, serves as music director for theater productions, and oversees one of the largest and most engaged church music ministries in the Midwest.

Matt holds two Master of Music degrees from Florida State University (Conducting and Musicology) and is a summa cum laude graduate of Furman University (BM Piano Performance). Matt's primary conducting teachers have included Alexander Jiménez, André Thomas, Hugh Floyd, Les Hicken, and Edvard Tshivzhel. Matt is in frequent demand not only as a conductor, but also as a chamber musician, collaborative pianist, musical theatre director, and community leader.

A believer in the furtherance of the choral repertoire, Matt regularly collaborates with some of the leading choral composers in the US and the UK. In a constant quest for choral music to represent the diversity of the people it serves, Matt's choirs sing music of a wide variety of styles by composers of all genders, sexualities, races, and nationalities. One of Matt's central philosophies is that good music belongs not just in the church, but in every place where there are receptive ears to hear it; Matt's choirs have sung in pubs and wineries, castles and caves, ballparks and nursing homes, historic cathedrals and humble churches in the countryside.