Matthew M Nielson

Based in Asheville, Washington, DC and Cincinnati, Matthew M. Nielson is a composer, orchestrator and sound designer for film, television, theatre and radio.

His music for film has been heard in film festivals across the US. He has composed and designed more than two dozen short films, feature-length documentaries and feature-length narratives, including Poker Face, Lulu and Josie, A Sleepover Story, Fire’s Daughter, Death in Time, Londinium, and Elbow Grease. He has won several film festival awards for his work and been nominated for several more. His music and sound design for television have been featured in branding packages for Epix Drive-In and Spike TV, and his commercial clients include Delivery.com, NBA, UFC on FOX, Bounty Hunters, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, NBC Sports, v05, and Hometrust Bank. His work can be heard in video games, including Drone Command.

Theatrically, Nielson has designed, composed, orchestrated and written songs for hundreds of productions around the world. Off-Broadway: Shakespeare’s Villains and Lakawanna Blues (Public Theatre). Regional credits include Cincinnati Playhouse, Milwaukee Repertory, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Delaware Theatre Company, Barrington Stage, NC Stage, Triad Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Signature Theatre, Kennedy Center, Round House Theatre, Contemporary American Theatre Company, Library of Congress, Folger Theatre, the National Gallery of Art, and many others. International credits include productions in Germany and Russia. Nielson has mentored sound design students and taught master classes at the University of Maryland and American University.

Matthew has several credits as a writer in film, including The Long Road, Trip, The Beginning, and Groundwork. Nielson was a founding member of the audio theatre company The Audible Group, who produced holiday productions of A Child’s Christmas in Wales and Gift of the Magi for charity. With The Audible Group, Nielson wrote, directed, scored and designed the dramatic audio series Troublesome Gap. He runs Sound Lab Studios; a premier full-featured audio post-production house and The Curious Music Company; a production music library and custom music shop.

Nielson has won four Helen Hayes Award and been nominated for 11 others. He also holds nominations for League of Cincinnati Theatre awards, Barrymore Awards and BroadwayWorld.com awards.