Upcoming and recent projects, events and performances
25/26 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
August 25 - FormidAbility
Matthew partners with FormidAbility at Birmingham Conservatoire to R&D better processes for working with deaf creatives and actors in the operatic medium using BSL. Specific work will include how the artists interpret and use a conductor’s gesture in their work
September 25 - English National Opera; BBC Radio 4; Chineke!
Matthew leads the ENO Orchestra, Chorus and soloists in a recording session of music, at Milton Court Concert Hall, celebrating the centenary of Sir Charles Mackerras’s birth.
BBC Radio 4 broadcasts ‘How to Play…La Traviata’ on September 4th, and available on BBC Sounds for a year. The programme follows Matthew and the City of London Sinfonia alongside director Rodula Gaitanou and the cast as they rehearsed La Traviata at Opera Holland Park.
Meanwhile, the first screening of a movie - with soundtrack conducted by Matthew - takes place at Toronto Film Festival.
October 25 - February 26 - English National Opera
Matthew returns to ENO at the London Coliseum to conduct a revival of Cal McCrystal’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore. The cast includes renowned G&S performers Neal Davies and John Savournin alongside Thomas Atkins and Henna Mun.
November 25 - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Matthew joins the RPO at their residency at the Hexagon, Reading in An Evening at the Opera on 7th November. The soloists are soprano Francesca Chiejina and tenor Sam Furness. Programme TBA.
December 25 - Opera Holland Park
Matthew leads the rehearsals for the London revival of Will Todd’s festive take on Dicken’s A Christmas Carol
March 26 - Chelsea Opera Group
Matthew returns to Chelsea Opera Group on 15th March to conduct the Company in a Mascagni double bill. Cavelleria Rusticana is preceded by Mascagni’s powerful, passionate and rarely heard Silvano.
April - June 26 - Opera Holland Park
Matthew returns once again to the Company which gave him his first opportunities as a conductor over a decade ago. The opera that Matthew will conduct will be announced in the coming months, but builds on his track record with the Italian repertoire.
June 26 - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Matthew joins the RPO once again for An Afternoon at the Opera on 7th June at Crawley The Hawth. The soloists are soprano Francesca Chiejina and tenor Sam Furness. Programme TBA
24/25 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Autumn/Winter
BBC CONCERT ORCHESTRA
In a special Puccini Plus Friday Night is Music Night, Matthew curates and conducts a programme celebrating Puccini, his place in Italian opera, and his musical legacy in 20th Century music theatre and film. He is joined by host Gareth Malone, soprano Anna Patalong and tenor Charne Rochford.
Repertoire includes: La tregenda (Le Villi), intermezzi from Manon Lescaut and Suor Angelica, overtures to La forza del destino, Il barbiere di Siviglia and The Sea Hawk, some of Puccini’s most loved arias and duets, Neopolitan song, music theatre hits from Rodgers and Hammerstein and Boublil and Schönberg, and the theme from Star Wars: A New Hope.
SKY ARTS
Sky Arts broadcasts Musical Masterpieces - 1st October - in which Matthew conducts the music of Bizet with the Orchestra of Opera North.
OPERA HOLLAND PARK
Park Matthew conducts an Opera Gala concert celebrating and introducing their forthcoming 2025 season.
BBC RADIO 3
On 29th November, BBC Radio 3 broadcasts Friday Night is Music Night: Puccini Plus, conducted and curated by Matthew.
Winter/Spring
CHINEKE! ORCHESTRA
Matthew joins Chineke! Orchestra at Queen Elizabeth Hall to Celebrate a Decade since Chineke! was formed. This performance includes all the major works the Foundation has commissioned since 2015.
Repertoire includes: Fanfare for Chineke! (Shirley Thompson), Song of the Prophets: A Requiem for the Climate (Witter-Johnson, Kidane, Thompson, Williams), Free-man (James B. Wilson), to the hibiscus (Cassie Kinoshi), Life, life, life (Stewart Goodyear), Carry That Sound (Julian Joseph), Ethiopia Boy (Roderick Williams), Remnants (James B. Wilson/Yome Sode)
SINFONIA VIVA
Matthew leads Sinfonia Viva and four of the cathedral choirs from across the East Midlands at Southwell Minster. With a performance with Duruflé’s Requiem at the heart of the evening, they are also joined by organist Paul Provost, mezzo-soprano Hannah Morley and baritone Felix Kemp.
Repertoire includes: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (Vaughan-Williams), Organ Concerto in G Minor Op.36 (Poulenc), Requiem (Duruflé)
ROYAL CONSERVATOIRE OF SCOTLAND
Matthew returns to the RCS to prepare and conduct two casts of singers and the RCS Opera Orchestra - alongside coaching and mentoring repetiteurs and an assistant conductor - in a production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Performed in the New Athenaeum Theatre, the production is directed by Jim Manganello.
Spring/Summer
SINFONIA SMITH SQUARE at the BRISTOL BEACON
Conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren, this concert promises rousing storytelling with some of the most iconic overtures. Get close to the orchestra and be transported to exciting lands, through the works of Mendelssohn, Mozart and Rossini. Friends and family of residents are also welcome to join to watch the concert too.
Repertoire includes:
Overtures to The Marriage of Figaro, Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), La scala di seta (Rossini), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Hebrides Overture (Mendelssohn)
ROYAL PHILHARMONIC CONCERT ORCHESTRA
Matthew conducts the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and violinist soloist Francesca Dego at the King’s Lynn Festival on 26th July in a vibrant concert of masterworks.
Repertoire includes:
Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis (Vaughan Williams); Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto Op.64 ; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.5 Op.64
OPERA HOLLAND PARK
Matthew first joins Opera Holland Park for an Opera Gala concert at the Calvary and Guards Club before reuniting with director Rodula Gaitanou to revive their much celebrated production of Verdi’s La traviata for the second time. When Rodula and Matthew first collaborated on this production in 2018 it was hailed as the “finest traviata to reach London in decades”, and Matthew gained plaudits for his flair in this repertoire. Revived in 2021 to more praise, the team reunites to bring this special production to audiences once again.
23/24 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
WELSH NATIONAL OPERA
Matthew conducts the Welsh premiere of Golijov’s Ainadamar at Wales Millenium Centre before embarking on a tour of England and Wales. Deborah Colker directs a co-production with Metropolitan Opera, Detroit Opera and Scottish Opera.
CITY OF LONDON SINFONIA
‘Perfection of a Kind: Britten vs Auden’: Matthew and the CLS are joined by singer Johnnie Fiori and actors Alex Jennings and Barry Rutter at Queen Elizabeth Hall as they explore the making and breaking of both Britten and Auden’s personal and professional relationships.
‘Come and Sing! Messiah’: Matthew and the CLS are joined on Good Friday by up and coming soloists (mentored by Yvonne Howard) and an amateur chorus of participants to perform Handel’s masterpiece.
RNCM Opera
Matthew prepares and conducts two casts, the RNCM Opera Orchestra - alongside coaching and mentoring a repetiteur and assistant conductor - in Jack Furness’s production of Rimsky Korsakov’s The Snowmaiden.
OPERA HOLLAND PARK
Matthew teams up with director Stephen Barlow and soprano Amanda Echalez in a reworking of Stephen’s acclaimed 2009 staging of Puccini’s Tosca. Matthew conducts the CLS and the Chorus of Opera Holland Park.
CHELSEA OPERA GROUP
Matthew conducts the forces of Chelsea Opera Group at Cadogan Hall, joined by a cast that includes soprano Anush Hovhannisyan and baritone Andrii Kymach, in a rare performance of Verdi’s I due Foscari.
WEST GREEN HOUSE OPERA
Matthew reunites for the third time with director Victoria Newlyn in a production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia. The cast includes baritone Dominic Sedgwick, mezzo-soprano Katie Bray and tenor Nico Darmanin. Matthew is pleased to be joined by former and current ENO artists - Trevor Bowes, Ronald Nairne, Paul Sheehan, and Amy Sedgewick - in roles, covers and chorus.
2022/23 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
WELSH NATIONAL OPERA
In a busy season with WNO, Matthew returns to conduct Will Todd’s Migrations in its second iteration at Wales Millenium Centre and subsequently on tour in Wales and England. He teams up again with the Orchestra of WNO to conduct the finals of the VOBO competition, and ends the season by conducting their summer orchestral tour, Music of the Heart.
LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
Matthew leads the LPO and violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason, at Snape Maltings and St Martin’s in the Fields, in a collaboration with Concert Theatre Works. We bring The Chavalier to UK audiences for the first time, a play with music exploring Joseph Boulogne’s encounter with Mozart in 18th century Paris.
ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA
Matthew leads the British premiere of Tesori’s Blue for ENO at the London Coliseum in a production directed by Tinuke Craig. The cast includes soprano Nadine Benjamin, bass Kenneth Kellogg (who originated the role of The Father) and tenor Zwakele Tshabalala.
OPERA NORTH
Matthew returns to Opera North to conduct The Pearl Fishers. Directed by Matthew Eberhardt, the production will receive staged performances in Leeds before embarking on a tour of the UK’s major concert halls. The cast includes soprano Sophia Theodoridis, tenor Nico Darmanin, baritone Quirjin de Lang, and bass James Creswell.