Bio

Jaime Morales-Matos is an Associate Professor of Trombone at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He has received the Bachelor of Arts, Performer's Certificate, and Artist Diploma from Indiana University, as well as a Master's Degree from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Morales-Matos has wide-ranging experience as a trombonist, including as a soloist with orchestras and ensembles, as well as performing solo recitals in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. As an orchestral player, he has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra, Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Lexington Philharmonic, Iris Orchestra, the Casals Festival Orchestra, the Florida Music Festival Orchestra, and the New World Symphony in the United States, and with the Asturias, Granada and Galicia Symphony Orchestras in Spain. He has performed solos with several orchestras, including the Puerto Rico Symphony, Bangor Symphony, Symphony Orchestra of Southeast Texas, Guayaquil Symphony, National Symphony of the Dominican Republic, Galicia Symphony, Central Ohio Symphony, American Youth Philharmonic, Clermont Philharmonic, and the orchestras of Indiana University, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Miami University and the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. Morales-Matos has extensive chamber music experience, performing with the Gabrieli Brass Quintet, Top Brass, Upbeat Brass, and concerts with members of the brass section of the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra. He has premiered various concertos and other works written especially for him.

In the popular genre, he has performed with several Grammy Award-winning artists, including Tito Puente, Ray Charles, Eddie Palmieri, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Lalo Rodriguez, Ruben Blades, and more. Morales-Matos is also the Director of Son del Caribe, a well-recognized salsa band in Ohio.

Morales-Matos has taught trombone as a faculty member at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, the Conservatorio Superior de Asturias in Spain, and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Prep Department. In addition, he has served as an assistant instructor at Indiana University and has been involved on the faculties of several summer festivals in the US, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Spain.  He is very active as a Master Class Artist in the United States and Latin America.

Morales-Matos’s principal trombone teachers have included Keith Brown, Tony Chipurn, M. Dee Stewart, and John Swallow. He has also studied privately with Joseph Alessi and Arnold Jacob.

As a conductor, Morales-Matos has conducted in the United States (Houston Symphony, Jacksonville Symphony, Columbus Symphony, Dayton Philharmonic, Bangor Symphony, Central Ohio Symphony, Clermont Philharmonic), Germany (Munich Philharmonic), Spain (Galicia Symphony), Austria (Tokyo Symphony in Tour), Bulgaria (Varna Philharmonic, National Radio Symphony, Sofia), Ecuador (National Symphony in Quito, Guayaquil Symphony), Venezuela (Venezuela Symphony), Dominican Republic (National Symphony) as well as in his native Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Symphony). In 2003, Morales-Matos made his conducting debut at the prestigious Casals Festival (with members of the New York Philharmonic); the concert was recorded and broadcast on public television. In 2007, he was selected by the American Symphony Orchestra League as one of the most promising young conductors. He participated in the Bruno Walter Conductor Preview held with the Jacksonville Symphony in Florida.

Jaime Morales-Matos was appointed Music Director of the Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra in June 2002. With the orchestra, he has enjoyed great success in a broad range of programming. From 2008 to 2018, he became the Music Director of the Clermont Philharmonic as well.