Daniel Mattos - Director of Music

Daniel is a wide-ranging musician active as a pianist, conductor, composer, arranger and church musician. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting Performance from Florida State University.

Mattos has served as a piano adjudicator for the Nevada Music Teachers Association Silver State Competition in Las Vegas, and he previously adjudicated the 11th College of Southern Nevada Piano Concerto Competition. He has also worked as a music instructor, clinician, pianist, and choral and orchestral conductor at institutions including the University of Puerto Rico, Florida State University, The Youth Orchestra of Palm Beach County, Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches, Bak Middle School of the Arts (as artist in residence), the Puerto Rico Corporation for the Musical Arts, and both the undergraduate and preparatory programs of the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music.

As a composer, Mattos’s catalog is diverse and includes works for choir, orchestra, piano, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. Notable pieces include his contemporary motet Alleluia for mixed choir; Christmas lullaby: Sleep my little baby, Jesus for mixed choir and piano; La ira del boricua en tres episodios cortos for piano and percussion ensemble; the Puerto Rican danzas Mis Niñas for violin and piano; Encuentrofor clarinet and piano; A Christmas Overture and Obertura Ecléctica Caribeña for chamber orchestra; and Introitus: Gloria in excelsis Deo for mixed choir, organ, and orchestra. His instrumental works include the tangos Spectrum of Passions for clarinet and piano and Un Tango Nocturno for solo piano or string ensemble; a contemporary etude in jazz style, The Blue Moon, for solo clarinet or soprano saxophone; and The Desert, a set of four-character pieces for string quartet. His most recent compositions include Dúo Cuántico for clarinet and oboe and Tango No. 3: La diosa luna for piano and voice, featuring his own original text.

His music has been performed at international festivals in Brazil, France, Cuba, Guatemala, Honduras, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Several of his works are published by J.W. Pepper Publishing Co. and are available through their catalog.

Internationally, Mattos has appeared as assistant conductor of the Trujillo Symphony Orchestra for the IV International Voice Competition and as guest conductor for the VII International Bach Festival, both held in Trujillo, Perú.

Mattos launched his church music career at age 14 at Zion Lutheran Church in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. His subsequent appointments include serving as music director at University Lutheran Church on the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee, Holy Cross Lutheran Church in West Palm Beach, and Ascension Lutheran Church in Boynton Beach.