Matthew Halls

biography

Matthew Halls has established himself as one of today’s leading young conductors. A former Artistic Director of The King’s Consort, he has conducted in such prominent venues as Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; La Cité de la Musique, Paris; the Konzerthaus, Berlin; and at the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels. Having initially established his reputation as a keyboard player, Halls has worked extensively with many of Europe’s foremost early music groups and in opera houses including The Netherlands Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Komische Oper Berlin, as well as at venues such as The Megaron, Athens, Lincoln Center, New York and Wiener Festwochen. Beyond the early repertoire in which he has initially established his reputation, Halls has an avowed passion for the 19th-century Germanic and 20th-century British repertoire.  In the field of choral music he has conducted an eclectic cross section of the repertoire, juxtaposing composers as diverse as Byrd and Britten, Gesualdo and Schoenberg.

Halls has made significant debuts with orchestras such as Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Iceland Symphony, Het Residentie Orkest and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. His 2010/11 season included amongst others debut appearances with the Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Colorado Symphony, Houston Symphony and Tonkünstler Orchestra with re-invitations arising from all these. This season’s highlights include debuts with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestras.

Last season he appeared for the first time at the Oregon Bach Festival.  Such was the impact of his performances there that he was immediately invited to succeed Helmuth Rilling as the Artistic Director of the Festival.  He returns to the Festival in 2012 and 2013 as Artistic Director Designate and assumes artistic leadership after the 2013 Festival.

In the opera house, Halls has made recent debuts with companies such as the Handelfestspiele Halle, the Korean National Opera, Salzburg Landestheater and Central City Opera Colorado. All resulted in immediate reinvitations; Halls returned to Central City in summer 2011, having already conducted Handel's Rinaldo and Puccini's Madama Butterfly with the company, for a well-received production of Handel’s Amadigi and this season returns to Salzburg with Handel’s Imeneo.  His operatic repertoire naturally covers Renaissance, Baroque and Classical works, but also extends to a wide range of later repertoire, with a particular focus on the Italian Bel Canto and the Britten operas. His association with both The Netherlands Opera and Nationale Reisopera Holland have included productions of Verdi Luisa Miller, Britten Peter Grimes and Bellini Norma, as well as Handel’s Hercules, Samson, Solomon and Saul.

Matthew Halls was educated at Oxford University and subsequently taught at the University for five years. Passionately committed to education and working with young musicians, the development of Retrospect Ensemble’s Young Artist Programme has been a priority for him. He is also a tutor for the European Union Baroque Orchestra and regularly teaches on summer schools and courses such as the Jerusalem Early Music Workshop and the Dartington International Summer School.

Matthew Halls is managed by Sue Nicholls and Roderick Thomson at Hazard Chase and also represented by Schwalbe and Partners, New York (USA, Canada and South America).