A sought-after leader in today’s orchestral landscape, Dr. Matthew Aubin cultivates musical excellence through an innovative, community-minded, and inclusive approach.

Dr. Aubin serves as Music Director and Executive Director of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Music Director of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director of The Chelsea Symphony in New York City. Through these positions, he has developed a reputation for imaginative programming, organizational leadership, audience engagement, and advocacy for historically overlooked composers.

With The Chelsea Symphony, Dr. Aubin has led prominent collaborations with actor John Lithgow, the award-winning television series Mozart in the Jungle, and the American Museum of Natural History. He played a principal role in establishing and developing the orchestra’s annual competition for emerging composers, which has welcomed distinguished adjudicators including Gerard Schwarz. He also led The Chelsea Symphony in its Lincoln Center debut and has conducted New York City premieres of works by Mark O’Connor, Fazıl Say, Caroline Shaw, and others.

Dr. Aubin has appeared as a guest conductor with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Washington Idaho Symphony, Manchester Symphony Orchestra, and Gotham Winds. His guest-conducting engagements this season include appearances with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and the Symphonic Orchestra of the Teatro da Paz in Belém, Brazil.

As a consultant for the Amazon Prime series Mozart in the Jungle, created by Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman, Dr. Aubin served as the off-camera conductor for an episode filmed on Rikers Island. That experience led to an ongoing relationship with the New York City Department of Correction, for which he has designed and conducted concerts and educational initiatives for detainees, both in person and online. He also served as the onstage conductor for the film Bel Canto, starring Julianne Moore, and as an artistic consultant for the television series Younger.

Under Dr. Aubin’s leadership, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra has expanded its visibility locally, nationally, and internationally. He has collaborated with acclaimed guest artists including Branford Marsalis, Pascal Rogé, Mahan Esfahani, Julian Schwarz, Jeremy Crosmer, and Lowell Liebermann. The orchestra has expanded its season and broadened its reach through family and educational concerts, multimedia initiatives, and Music on Tap, a series designed to welcome new and younger audiences.

In 2022, Dr. Aubin founded the Equal Billing Project, an initiative dedicated to recording and promoting the music of composers who did not receive appropriate recognition during their lifetimes. The first two Equal Billing recordings, released by Claves Records, focus on the orchestral music of French composer Fernande Decruck and represent the first large-scale recordings devoted to her orchestral works.

Dr. Aubin is recognized as the foremost scholar on Decruck’s life and music. He has received multiple research grants, served as a panelist at the Fernande Decruck International Saxophone Competition in France, and organized performances of her music in the United States and abroad. He has edited and prepared critical editions of Decruck’s works for the French publisher Éditions Billaudot and maintains the principal online resource devoted to the composer at fernandedecruck.com.

Dr. Aubin remains active as a professional horn player and performs regularly across the United States. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy. A devoted educator, his previous appointments include Assistant Professor of Music at Washington State University, adjunct faculty member at The Hartt School, and Educational Programs Conductor for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.