Matthew Halls

biography

Matthew Halls is one of Britain’s most exciting young conductors as well as a leading harpsichordist and organist. He was Associate Director (2005-2007) and Artistic Director (2007-2009) of The King's Consort before taking up his current position as Artistic Director of Retrospect Ensemble. He studied at Oxford University, was organ scholar and later assistant organist at New College and graduated with a first-class degree in music. Whilst completing postgraduate research at Oxford he was also director of music at the University Church in Oxford. In 1998 he joined the European Union Baroque Orchestra, with whom he toured extensively throughout Europe and the Middle East. Since leaving this orchestra he has enjoyed a busy and exciting career, playing with many of the world’s leading period instrument orchestras, including the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, the Theatre of Early Music, Montreal and the New York Collegium. As a soloist he has appeared at the Cheltenham International Festival; Handel Festival, Halle; Enescu Festival, Bucharest; Ottawa International Chamber Festival; Lamèque Festival; New Brunswick and Bermuda Festival.

As Artistic Director of The King's Consort he appeared in many of Europe's leading festivals and concert venues (most recently Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; La Cité de la Musique, Paris; and Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels) and broadcast extensively both on television and radio. His recently-released world premiere recording of Handel's 'Parnasso in Festa' for the Hyperion record label met with great critical acclaim. In addition to his work with Retrospect Ensemble and The King's Consort, he has conducted numerous other period-instrument ensembles, such as The English Concert, Portland Baroque Orchestra, USA, and Holland Baroque Society.

Matthew recently made important conducting débuts with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester, Scottisch Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and the RTE Concert Orchestra, Dublin. Matthew is also active in the opera world as a freelance conductor and chorus master, working regularly at De Nederlandse Opera and the Nationale Reisopera in The Netherlands, the Komische Oper in Berlin and the Bayrische Staatsoper, as well as with English Touring Opera and New Chamber Opera. He was a tutor at St Peter's College Oxford and taught harpsichord at Oxford University. Matthew 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. Forthcoming engagements in 2009 include conducting debuts with the Iceland Symphony, Ulster Orchestra and Hamburger Symphoniker as well as new productions of Rinaldo (Central City Opera, Colorado) and Floridante (International Handel-Festspiele, Halle).

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