Hailing from Wagga Wagga, NSW, Matthew is undertaking his second year at the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), studying with pianist Timothy Young.
He completed a Bachelor of Music with first class Honours and the University Medal, studying with Daniel de Borah at the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University. A passionate chamber musician, he was awarded winner of the Hilda Woolmer Prize for Piano Accompaniment in 2020 and winner of the Basil Jones Sonata Prize in 2020 and 2018. In 2017, Matthew was selected to perform in the first side-by-side student/faculty concert, and in 2021, performed as a mentee in Ensemble Q alongside acclaimed musicians Natsuko Yoshimoto, Paul Dean, Trish Dean, and Peter Luff.
Matthew began learning the piano at the age of seven with his grandmother, before continuing his studies at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music with Hamish Tait. During that time, he won numerous awards including the Conservatorium’s senior Piano Scholarship, and the Dr Ray King Scholarship. He made his concerto debut with the Riverina Community Orchestra, performing excerpts from Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor. More recently, Matthew has reappeared as a soloist with the South Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.2 in Bb Major.
Outside of his musical life, Matthew enjoys eating chocolate and running – a necessary combination, considering the amount of chocolate he consumes.
FROM: Wagga Wagga, NSW. Lands of the Wiradjuri nation.
Matthew’s training at ANAM is supported by ANAM Syndicate donors Jan Grant, Louise and Hermann Bischoff, Meredith Baldwin, Carolynne and Geoffrey Dobbin, Robyn Harris, Eric Dias and Roger Bau, Anthony Knight OAM and Beverly Knight, Ian Hogarth and Peter Larsen
Photo credit: Pia Johnson.