Matthew Ogden teaches bassoon and voice at The Catoctin School of Music in Leesburg VA, where he also serves as the Operations Manager. Matthew also serves as Associate Director of Music at the historic Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, Washington DC, and is the adjunct professor of bassoon at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD.

Matthew is a very active freelance musician, both in his capacity as a professional bassoonist and as a classically-trained operatic lyric baritone. Most recently he performed the role of Gugliemo in a production of Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte with the Loudoun Lyric Opera, and was featured as the bass soloist in the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra’s production of Handel’s Messiah. He has performed several other principal roles, including in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, as well as numerous other solo recital appearances. He has sung with the Wolf Trap Opera in a performance of Verdi's Rigoletto as a member of the WTO opera chorus, and also appeared in a solo recital both as a singer and as piano accompanist for his wife (a mezzo-soprano) at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC, at the opening ceremonies of the Daughters of the American Revolution annual national convention. His primary voice teacher, with whom he has participated in numerous masterclasses and operatic workshops as well as private study, is the acclaimed Antonella Banaudi, an Italian dramatic soprano who has shared the stage in leading roles with such legendary singers as Luciano Pavarotti. Currently, he is continuing his studies under Henriette Lund, a highly respected vocal coach based in Washington D.C.

As a bassoonist, Matthew Ogden currently serves as principal bassoonist with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra in Warrenton VA, as well as performing regularly with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Greater Washington DC, the Loudoun Symphony Orchestra, the Frederick Symphony, the Foundation for the Revival of Classical Culture, and numerous other orchestras and ensembles. This December, he appeared at Carnegie Hall as principal bassoonist in a sold-out concert conducted by the renowned Gerald Schwarz, featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Other prominent recent performance venues include the National Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC, the Italian Embassy in Washington DC, the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Brooklyn NY, Saint Bartholomew's Church and All Souls Unitarian Church in Manhattan, the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas VA, among many others. He began his bassoon studies with Scott Cassada, bassoonist with the Maryland Symphony. He later attended Indiana University School of Music, where he studied bassoon performance with renowned bassoon pedagogue Kim Walker, from whom he learned the method she characterized as the "Bel Canto Bassoon," an approach which emphasizes the commonalities between the placement, support, resonance, and vowel shaping used in the bel canto method of singing, and proper double reed instrumental technique on the bassoon to most fully take advantage of the immense scope of the musical and expressive powers of the instrument.

Matthew Ogden is a proud member of both the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 161-710, and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).

As a performer and as a teacher, Matthew Ogden firmly believes that music is an indispensable part of the fabric of human society, a language which allows for the most distilled and elevated expression of human thoughts and ideas, and that every person deserves the opportunity to grow up surrounded by a vibrant culture of musical performance and education.