Matthew Hodge (b. 2008) is a classical composer, pianist, and violist in Roseland, Virginia. He is a rising senior in high school and has been homeschooled for all his education. With the encouragement of his mother, a professional oboist, he started composing when he was nine years old and was immediately enthralled by it. Since then, Matthew has been awarded for his compositions as a finalist in the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Composition Competition (USA), Junior Division in 2023, as well as having won the Young Talent Award and an Honorable Mention in the Classic Pure Vienna International Composition Competition, High School Division in 2022, first place in the Music Teacher’s Gifts’ 10th and 12th Annual Youth Composition Competitions (international) in 2023 and '25, first place in the Wednesday Music Club (WMC) Composition Competition (Charlottesville, Virginia) in 2022 and ‘24, and an honorable mention in the Virginia Music Teachers Association (VMTA) Composition Competition, Senior Division in 2023 and '24 along with others. In addition, he is one of four high school composers attending Brevard Music Center's Summer Institute in 2025 where he will study with Greg Simon, Robert Livingston Aldridge, and David Dzubay.

For piano, Matthew has also won numerous awards including first place in the Home Educators Association of Virginia (HEAV) piano competition in 2024, and a camp scholarship in WMC’s competition (Charlottesville, Virginia), Senior Division in 2024. Additionally, he was featured in the MasterWorks Festival’s Solo Honors Recital in Campbellsville, Kentucky in 2024, and in their Chamber Honors Recital in 2023 and ‘24. He enjoys and participates most in chamber music, where he loves to play works that are underappreciated and somewhat rarely performed.

For his compositions, Matthew, in addition to his first commission, was given the opportunity to have a composition published when he was fourteen years old; he was also given the opportunity to have his music published by Universal Edition once he is eighteen years old. Matthew has been commissioned by various musicians across the country, most notably by cellist Miriam K. Smith who will be premiering his Hommage à Kodály for unaccompanied cello in 2025. He has had his music performed in prestigious venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC in 2024 and '25 and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY in 2025. 

Matthew studies composition with Sheridan Seyfried, piano with Jeanne Jackson, and viola with Johanna Beaver. He occasionally takes additional composition lessons from renowned composer Richard Danielpour. He is principal viola in the Youth Symphony of the Youth Orchestras of Central Virginia (YOCVA), for which he was awarded an honorable mention in their concerto competition and plays piano and viola in YOCVA’s chamber music program. Additionally, he is a member of the Sundry Trio as a pianist with flutist Lucy Foshay and violinist Alexander Chang. Along with being a composer and musician, he is also a part time piano teacher. His compositions have been described as having “beautiful builds and decays” and “a beautiful atmosphere” (MTNA). Highly inspired by twentieth century French music, his music can usually be categorized as neoromantic or neoclassical. An important aspect of composing music to Matthew is to make it simultaneously beautiful to listen to and academically interesting.