Matt Ambrosio

Matt Ambrosio

Lecturer, Music Theory

Matt Ambrosio is a Lecturer of Music Theory at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Originally from New Rochelle, NY, Matt completed his PhD in Music Theory at UW–Madison, his MA in Music Theory from CUNY Queens College, his MA in Secondary Science Education at American University, and his BA in Music and Physics at the University of Rochester. Prior to his graduate studies in music theory, Matt taught high school physics in the DC Public School system and has a continued interest in STEM education.

Matt has presented at regional and international conferences including the Rocky Mountain Music Scholars Conference, Claude Debussy in 2018: A Centenary Celebration, the 12th Annual Deleuze and Guattari Studies Conference, among others. His dissertation, “Debussy and Ritournelle: Space, Time, and Narrativity,” explores musical return in Claude Debussy’s late works using Gilles Deleuze’s post-structuralist metaphysics, particularly as it applies to perceptions of virtual space and time. Matt’s recent research examines the history of racialization of the term “syncopation” and how current music theoretical study of the phenomenal syncopation reinstates this history.