Department of Music | University of Pittsburgh

David Gerard Mathews (PhD 2011, comp/theory) was recently awarded an Artist Opportunity Grant from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council to study the onde Martenot in Montreal with ondist Geneviève Grenier. We asked David to tells us about how he became interested in this unique instrument and how his time of study will help him achieve his creative goals.

I’ve been interested in the ondes Martenot ever since I discovered Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony as a teenager. I kept encountering the instrument at different points after that: as undergrad, I became very interested in the music of Tristan Murail, who both plays and writes for the ondes Martenot, and Radiohead, who has also utilized it extensively.