Stephanie Matthews is a musical trailblazer who has dedicated her career to championing artistic excellence, advocating for diverse representation in orchestral spaces, and empowering artists to explore innovative collaborations and creative enterprise.

She is the Co-Founder of the Re-Collective Orchestra, an all-black orchestra dedicated to raising the visibility and profile of black musicians and presenting culturally relevant work to engage diverse audiences. The Re-Collective Orchestra made history when they became the first all-black orchestra to perform at the Hollywood Bowl on Juneteenth, a star-studded event which aired live on CNN. The orchestra also collaborated with Hans Zimmer to record the score for the remake of Disney’s The Lion King.

As the Founder and Creative Director of StringCandy, Ms. Matthews has engaged musicians throughout the US, Europe, the Middle East and Australia for various tours, music festivals, recording sessions, and award shows. She made history in 2022 when she became the first Black concertmaster of the Academy Awards orchestra. She was the concertmaster for Jon Batiste’s world premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York City, captured by the Netflix documentary “American Symphony”, and was the concertmaster of the Gateways Festival Orchestra for the Soundtrax Film Music Festival featuring Terence Blanchard. As a recording professional, Ms. Matthews has recorded for various music, tv/film and video game projects. Recent film projects include Hoppers (2026), Zootopia 2 (2025), Superman (2025), Sinners (2025), Moana 2 (2024), and Inside Out 2 (2024). Her work has also been featured on the American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Emmy Awards, European Music Awards, Grammy Awards, and Juno Awards, and she has collaborated with many notable mainstream recording artists including Adele, Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Eminem, John Legend, Kanye West, Rihanna, and Stevie Wonder.

As a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Matthews has performed for international audiences, including performances at the Zenepalota Palace of Music in Miskolc, Hungary, Chiang Kai-Shek National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, Queens Hall in Port of Spain, Trinidad, the Dundas Performing Arts Centre in Nassau, Bahamas, and a series of solo performances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She has also been a guest soloist with the Washington Symphony Orchestra and Takoma Park Symphony Orchestra. She was featured at the Broad Stage’s “Cue & A” series in Los Angeles, a live event featuring the work of Emmy-award winning composer Kris Bowers and hosted by Richard Kraft. She is a founding member of the La Moda Piano Trio and former member of the Ebony Strings Quartet.

Outside of performing, Ms. Matthews regularly engages in educational endeavors. She is a mentor for the Musicians At Play RISE Film Scoring Orchestra, a program that brings talented young musicians together with top recording industry professionals to record a film score in a world-class Hollywood studio. She previously served as the Director of Artist Development for the Sphinx Organization, cultivating the careers of some of the nation’s top Black and Latino artists through professional development initiatives, including the Sphinx Competition, Sphinx Soloist Program and the Sphinx Virtuosi Tour. Ms. Matthews has served as the Assistant Dean and violin faculty with the Sphinx Performance Academy and as an Artist In Residence at the National Academy of Performing Arts in Trinidad and Tobago. Ms. Matthews is also a frequent presenter and guest lecturer at various educational institutions including The Juilliard School, Eastman School of Music, The Colburn School, California State University, California Institute of the Arts, Music Academy of the West, and California State Summer School for the Arts. She has also been a guest panelist at the League of American Orchestras and SphinxConnect conferences.