- Musician -

Walter Muelling has a long history of musicianship including performing, composing, and arranging.

Matthew Walter Muelling started his musical studies in 1989 with violin. In 1996, he began studying piano and switched his focus from violin to viola. As a teenager, he won the Tom Bittner Art & Literature Award for excellence in fine arts (2002), the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award (2006), and the National School Orchestra Award (2006). During his undergraduate education, he studied viola with Jean R. Perrault, Dee Martz, and Klara Fenyö Bahcall. He also studied violin with Steve Bjella, cello with Dr. Lawrence Leviton, small jazz with Mathew Buchman, conducting with Dr. Dylan Chmura-Moore, and composition with Dr. Charles Rochester Young. During this time he was granted multiple awards, including the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra Guild Award (2009-2011), the Dorothy E. Vetter String Award (2011), and the Edmund Bukolt Strings Award (2007-2010).

Outside of formal education, Mr. Muelling also has significant experience performing in a wide variety of styles. He has performed both as a substitute and a regular member with multiple symphony orchestras, string quartets, and other chamber music ensembles. He has also performed with jazz combos, folk music groups, bluegrass groups, rock/country bands, and polka bands. After two years contracted as a utility player for a country band, he was nominated as a finalist for the Wisconsin Area Music Industry’s award for String Player of the Year in 2014 for his work playing fiddle both in his regular band and as a regular substitute for other regional acts.

Mr. Muelling's compositional career started writing simple tunes as a child like most other composers. In 2005 he composed his first large work, String Symphony no. 1 in d minor. This piece was premiered by the West Bend High School Philharmonic while on tour in Edinburgh, Scotland. In his undergraduate studies, he was a regular presence in the composition studio even though he chose to major in education. His pieces were heard on numerous recitals, including a complete composition recital with his friend and colleague Kyle Brooks in October of 2009. That night, 10 world premieres were presented. In 2012, Mr. Muelling composed, scored, recorded, and produced an original piece for the student/faculty collaborative multimedia project War: Through Their Eyes, Warriors and Nurses Volume II. For his music's part in the project, he received a Citation for Excellent Service from Chancellor Richard H. Wells as well as an official Commendation from the State of Wisconsin presented by Governor Scott Walker, Representative Gordon Hintz, and Senator Jessica King. In the summer of 2023, he premiered his composition Friendship in the Weill Music Room in Carnegie Hall with two friends and coworkers at CMW. Mr. Muelling also has significant experience arranging music for string quartets, string orchestras, small jazz, folk ensembles, and polka bands.

Although currently unavailable for bookings, Mr. Muelling can still be found performing around the Providence, RI area with the MusicWorks Collective.

Awards in Musicianship: