COLIN MATTHEWS is currently Associate Composer of the Hallé, a Professor at the Royal College of Music, a Governor of the Royal Northern College of Music and Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Composition at the University of Manchester.

He was born in London, read Classics at the University of Nottingham and subsequently studied composition with Arnold Whittall, and also with Nicholas Maw. In the 1970s he taught at the University of Sussex, where he obtained a doctorate for his work on Mahler, and during this period he also worked at Aldeburgh with Benjamin Britten and Imogen Holst.

He was Associate Composer with the London Symphony Orchestra from 1992 until 1999, producing a number of major orchestral pieces during this period. He has also been the recipient of several BBC commissions including his magnum opus, the choral/orchestral Renewal (1996) performed and broadcast recently by the BBCSO under Sir Andrew Davis. His chamber music includes three string quartets, two oboe quartets, Divertimento for double string quartet, several major works for ensemble and a substantial body of piano music. His ballet score Hidden Variables, incorporating a new orchestral work, Unfolded Order, was commissioned by the Royal Ballet for the re-opening of the Royal Opera House in 1999.

Colin Matthews was recently featured, in interview and through the broadcast of a number of his works, as ‘Composer of the Week’ on Radio 3. His contribution to Bright Cecilia, variations by eight living composers on an ode by Purcell, was played at the Last Night of the Proms 2002. He is currently working on orchestrations of Debussy’s twenty-four Piano Preludes, eight of which will have been premiered by the Hallé by the end of this season.

Recent compositions include Two Tributes for the London Sinfonietta, ‘Pluto’ - an addition to Holst’s The Planets - for the Hallé, Aftertones for the Huddersfield Choral Society, Continuum for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and a new Horn Concerto. Future commissions include works for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé.