Projects
Matthew is a passionate advocate of music for everyone, and leads projects that champion, empower and celebrate unheard or underrepresented voices and stories as well as projects that widen access and inclusion to Classical Music. As an advocate for furthering this work throughout the industry, Matthew has appeared as a contributor on BBC Radio 4 Front Row, BBC Radio 3 In Tune, and for The Guardian newspaper.
MIGRATIONS AND FREEDOM SUITE
Matthew led the world premiere of Migrations for Welsh National Opera in 2022, and subsequently led the premiere of Freedom, the orchestral suite based on the opera, in 2026 for Pegasus Opera and street orchestra Brixton Chamber Orchestra.
Migrations interweaved narratives of the impact and challenges of migration across centuries, including slavery (Pero Jones), climate change and bio-diversity (birds), Mayflower pilgrims (America), inward migration, colonisation and resource plundering (Cree Nation, Canada), The English Lesson (Refugees’ stories).
The opera, by composer Will Todd, also included work by composer and sitarist Jasdeep Singh Degun, incorporating sitar and tabla into the orchestral sound world.
The opera included a children’s chorus, a Bollywood performance ensemble and the Bristol-based Gospel Choir, the Renewal Choir.
BLACK VOICES AND STORIES
Matthew’s work includes recording a disc - Black Resonance - of works by up and coming Black composers for the DECCA label.
With London Philharmonic Orchestra, he performed The Chevalier - an exploration of the life and work of Joseph Boulogne, Chevalier de Saint Georges.
With composer Kris Bowers and Chineke!, Matthew recorded the soundtrack for the the feature documentary The Eyes of Ghana, which reframes Ghana’s journey to independence through the lens of Chris Hesse, the camera man who filmed it all.
With Chineke! Orchestra, Matthew gave the English premiere of Florence Price’s Symphony No.3 as well as the UK premiere of William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony No 1.
With Chineke! Orchestra and BBC Radio 3 in 2025, Matthew conducted a concert of works by black composers, all commissioned in the previous decade.
Matthew led the UK premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s opera, Blue, at ENO, which tells the story of the impact of a young black boy’s murder at the gun of a white police officer.
LA PETITE BOHÈME
An animation of La Bohème’s Act 3, which re-imagined Musetta as Musetto, recorded with Opera North during the Covid pandemic in 2020.
INCLUSION AND WIDENING ACCESS
With Sinfonia Smith Square, Matthew co-devised and curated a concert, at The Beacon concert hall, for Bristol’s Care Home Residents.
Matthew co-founded Your Turn Collective, an organisation which aimed to empower music creators from backgrounds underrepresented in Classical Music.
Matthew conducts Come and Sing projects with City of London Sinfonia - with open access to the public to come and sing great choral works with a professional orchestra.
Matthew sits on the City of London Sinfonia’s Artists Council, which offers feedback on the direction and clarity of the orchestra’s mission and projects.