Matthew Conaway

Promoted to Associate Professor
Purdue Bands and Orchestras
conaway@purdue.edu

Matthew Conaway received his Master of Music degree from the American Band College of Sam Houston State University and a bachelor of music education degree from Indiana University. He is best known on campus for his involvement with Purdue bands, but Conaway is also an award-winning, internationally-known composer for concert bands.

He has approximately 50 works in publication and has arranged compositions for athletic bands at Purdue and Indiana University, and for high schools and colleges throughout the country. Millions of people have heard his arrangements at festivals, bowl games, basketball tournaments and other major sporting events.

Since arriving at Purdue as assistant professor of bands in 2012, Conaway has held a number of key positions, including conductor of the symphonic and varsity bands, assistant director of the “All-American” Marching Band, and director of Boiler Brass men’s basketball pep band – a position he has held since the end of the 2015-16 basketball season.

He is also the faculty supervisor of the band’s auxiliary units, coordinates marching band travel, serves as the department’s technology coordinator, and coordinates the annual Band Day event. Conaway also mentors a number of student organizations and is a member of the Purdue University Senate and Advisory Committee on Equity.

Prior to joining Purdue’s faculty, Conaway spent 10 years as director of bands for the West Lafayette Community School Corporation, helping West Lafayette become regarded as one of the great small-school music programs in Indiana. The National Association of Music Merchants Foundation recognized the West Lafayette Community School Corporation as one of the “Best Communities for Music Education in America” in 2006, 2010, 2011, and 2012.