Baritone Matthew John Zatko, has served as Adjunct Professor of Voice since 2023 at Ohio University, where he now serves in both the school of music and the school of theatre.

Matthew is an Ohio native from the greater Toledo area in Northwest Ohio. Matthew received a Bachelor of Music Education from The Ohio State University in 2018 where he specialized in choral music education and general elementary music education. He studied voice under Loretta Robinson, Dr. Scott McCoy (author of: Your Voice an Inside View) as well as Dr. Robin Rice (author of: Great Teachers on Great Singing). During his time in Columbus, he appeared in several productions with Opera Columbus, including: La Boheme, Carmen, and Mission: Seraglio.  He then performed his first role with Opera Project Columbus as The Page in their production of Amahl and The Night Visitors.

Upon completion of his Bachelor’s, Matthew traveled to Rochester, New York where he earned a Master of Music in performance and literature from the renowned Eastman School of Music in 2020.  At Eastman, he studied under Dr. Jonathan Retzlaff (author of: Exploring Art Song Lyrics: Translation and Pronunciation of the Italian, German and French Repertoire) as well as Katherine Ciesinski.   In Rochester, Matthew made his operatic lead role debut, as Don Giovanni, in Eastman Opera Theater’s production of Don Giovanni. He went on performing the role of Simone in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, performing as a soloist with the Eastman Bach Cantata Series and as a soloist with the Opera Guild of Rochester.

After completing his degree at Eastman, Matthew traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to attend Carnegie Mellon University.  At CMU, Matthew studied under soprano Jennifer Aylmer.  There he made his debut as a tenor, performing the role of Prince Charming in Carnegie Mellon’s production of Cendrillon (Viardot) and performing several supporting roles in Ravel’s L’enfant est Les Sortiléges before completing the Advanced Studies in Music Certification from CMU in 2022.

Matthew resides and teaches in Athens, Ohio.  In addition to his duties at OU, Matthew is a 3rd year Master Teacher of Voice, Percussion, and Piano with the Athens Community Music School (ACMS). Matthew performs professionally when able and most recently was cast as Dick Deadeye and Governor Etienne LaGrange in Opera Project Columbus’s 2025 productions of HMS Pinafore and Naughty Marietta, respectively.