Fuerst retires to focus on composing

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Fuerst retires to  focus on composing
Associate Professor of Music Matthew Fuerst is retiring. matthewfuerst.com |Courtesy
Associate Professor of Music Matthew Fuerst is retiring. matthewfuerst.com |Courtesy

Associate Professor of Music Matthew Fuerst first visited Hillsdale College as a composer.

When a violinist and pianist performed some of his original works on campus, Fuerst attended their concert and became acquainted with the college.

Now, he is spending his last few weeks at Hillsdale, as he returns to composing full-time, and to his wife in Nebraska, who will be teaching at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

“Between her fantastic offer and the fact that there seems to be a lot of interest in my own compositions more than ever, we thought that perhaps this is the time for me to take a chance and take a little more time composing, and it’s just too great an offer for her.”

Fuerst said he knew he wanted to be a composer from the time he was 9 years old. He begged his mother, and was allowed to, eventually, take piano lessons.

His piano teacher played a part of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the fourth movement of which is “Ode to Joy,” a simplified version of which he was playing in lessons. Instead of buying baseball cards, Fuerst saved his allowance money and went to the store.

“I bought this record with this guy on a horse on it,” Fuerst said. “I thought, ‘Well, he looks pretty majestic, so this must be the symphony.’ It turned out the record on the cover was Napoleon and it was Beethoven’s 3rd symphony, which has an association there. I went home to my little radio shack record player, and I realized that I wanted to do what that music was doing to me. From then on, I wanted to be a composer. I also wanted to be a baseball player too, but I stunk, so I went the music route.”

Fuerst studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and did his master’s and Ph.D. at the Juilliard School, and after moving to New York, he began writing for pianist and former fellow student at Eastman, David Riley, after he met Riley in a pizza place in New York. Riley was working with violinist Jasper Wood, and the two brought on Fuerst to compose some pieces for them.

“Since then, I’ve done four original works and have done some arrangements for them,” Fuerst said. “And last January I had a CD of all the works I wrote from them released. It’s been about 16 years of a working relationship and friendship with them.”

After Fuerst’s first encounter with Hillsdale, he was soon looking to apply to another college to teach. Fuerst called Director of Keyboard Studies Brad Blackham to see if he knew anyone at the college to which he was applying. Although Blackham didn’t know anyone there, he invited Fuerst to apply for the open position.

“I really liked the sound that he has and his style,” Blackham said “I liked that he wrote really challenging music that is fun and challenging at the same time. He’s a pianist himself and all his piano parts are really interesting.”  

Fuerst said one of the unexpected parts of leaving was how difficult it would be to say goodbye to his students.

When junior Dani Adams was in his class, she struggled, and dropped eventually, but said he was very helpful in office hours. The second time she took the class, she said she did much better.

“He was super kind and didn’t even mention the first time. I’ve done much better this semester, and, he’s been a lot of fun in class. I love his sense of humor and quirky sarcastic comments that keep you engaged even though the material can get tedious with rules at times.”

While Fuerst said he’s looking forward to spending enough time composing and keeping up with all the business things that come with being a composer, he said he’s looking forward to being with his wife again.

“I think living with my wife again, frankly, I’m very much looking forward to that,” he said, laughing. “I do like hanging out with her. You know, it’s the little things in life.”

Blackham said filling his spot would be difficult.

“One of the real sad things is that he’s become a great friend over the years,” Blackham said. “He’s not just a good colleague, but also a really great friend.”