Matthew Sharp
Cello Tutor
Matthew Sharp studied cello with Boris Pergamenschikow in Cologne, voice with Ulla Blom in Stockholm and English at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has performed at major venues and festivals worldwide as solo cellist, baritone and actor.
Matthew has appeared as solo performer with the RPO, LPO, RLPO, CBSO, Orchestra of Opera North, SCO, EUCO, ESO, Manchester Camerata, Orchestra of the Swan, Arensky Chamber Orchestra, and Ural Philharmonic, performed principal roles for Opera North (Papageno, Pied Piper), ROH2 (Exposure, Pleasure's Progress), Almeida Opera (The Silent Twins) and the Young Vic (Wolf and Hero) and National Theatre Studio, given solo performances at the Glastonbury and Latitude festivals, and at festivals from Sydney to Toronto, Sao Paulo to Delhi, recorded for Sony, EMI, Decca, Naxos, Somm and Avie, given over fifty world premieres - including the title role in Sir John Tavener's The Fool and Errollyn Wallen's Cello Concerto - and appeared in recital as cellist and singer at Wigmore Hall, SBC and Salle Gaveau. As writer, composer and performer, he collaborates regularly with leading artists from film, theatre and dance.
His music theatre works have toured to major festivals in Europe, India, China and the US. Matthew is Creative Director of Revelation St Mary's, Ashford and artist-in-residence with the Arensky Chamber Orchestra. He was artistic director of the Deal Festival for three years, transforming its profile, smashing box office records and introducing a year-round outreach initiative called Pyramideal.
Recent highlights include the London premiere of Whale Music by Matthew and bansuri flautist, Sameer Rao with words by Sir Andrew Motion at the South Bank's Alchemy Festival, a UK tour of the pioneering new concerto work Death's Cabaret - A Love Story by Stephen Deazley and Martin Riley, The Devil's Jukebox for Opera North, the world premiere of Faustus - The Last Bus Home, a one-man opera commissioned especially for Matthew by Sound Festival, his debut for Decca recording solo cello on Voces8's new album Eventide, the release of a Schoenberg disc for Somm and his pioneering festival RE:naissance at London's Kings Place.
Upcoming highlights include recordings of the Hans Gal and Karl Weigl concertos with Kenneth Woods and the English Symphony Orchestra, Errollyn Wallens's Cello Concerto with the Arensky Chamber Orchestra and ZRI's now acclaimed re-imagining of Brahms' Clarinet Quintet, new production of Salieri's Prima la music e poi le parole which he is directing and performing in and the title role in HK Gruber's Frankenstein!
Matthew has been a guest lecturer at GSMD, CSSD, Trinity Laban, Dartington College and Leeds and Portsmouth Universities. He has devised and delivered masterclasses and bespoke and pioneering workshops and projects for Juilliard, RWCMD, ENO, Opera North, WNO, ETO, Philharmonia, LPO, Orchestra of the Swan, Theatre de Complicité, Barbican, South Bank Centre, Wigmore Hall, the International Ingenium Academy and CoMA, and in India, Russia and Scandinavia.
