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Born: England
The English conductor, harpsichordist and organist, Matthew Halls, was educated at Oxford University.
Having initially established his reputation as a keyboard player, Matthew Halls has worked extensively with many of Europe’s foremost early music groups and in opera houses including The Netherlands Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper, Komische Oper Berlin, as well as at venues such as The Megaron, Athens, Lincoln Center, New York and Wiener Festwochen. In recent years he has been a member of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. He was temporarily appointed director of The King’s Consort from June 2007 to May 2009. He has recorded numerous CD's as a continuo player and soloist. He has also performed with Baroque orchestras including Les Arts Florissants and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Together with violinist Monica Huggett, Matthew Halls makes up the core of the chamber music ensemble.
Matthew Halls has established himself as one of today’s leading young conductors. Hall has appeared as a guest conductor with both Baroque ensembles (The English Concert, Portland Baroque Orchestra) and with modern orchestras (Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, London Mozart Players). He has conducted in such prominent venues as Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; La Cité de la Musique, Paris; the Konzerthaus, Berlin; and at the Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels. Beyond the early repertoire for which he has initially become known, Halls is known for his passion for the Germanic repertoire, particularly L.v. Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann and Schubert. As a conductor of choral music he has conducted an eclectic cross section of the repertoire, juxtaposing composers as diverse as Byrd and Benjamin Britten, Gesualdo and Arnold Schoenberg.
The 2007-2008 season firmly established Matthew Halls as a conductor of international repute. During this season he made a number of significant debuts with European orchestras. These included performances of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) with Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin at the Berlin Konzerthaus and programs of Baroque and Classical repertoire with the HR-Sinfonieorchester, Norrköping Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and London Mozart Players. Halls' debut with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra early in the 2008-2009 season led to an immediate reinvitation to conduct the final concert of the Edinburgh International Festival in 2009, whilst his debuts at Handelfestspiele Halle and Central City Opera Colorado also resulted in immediate reinvitations, the latter to conduct a production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly. Forthcoming orchestral engagements include concerts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Hamburger Symphoniker and Les Violons du Roy, and a performance of George Frideric Handels little known Floridante at the Handelfestspiele Halle.
In May 2009, Matthew Halls conducted the much anticipated inaugural performance of the exciting new group, Retrospect Ensemble, of which he is Artistic Director. The launch concert, a performance of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Jephtha at the opening night of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, was closely followed by the Retrospect Ensemble’s debut at the Edinburgh International Festival, performing a programme of Bach cantatas with soprano Carolyn Sampson. Future plans include their debut at the Dresdner Musikfestspiele, tours of Europe and to the Far East, an annual series at Wigmore Hall, (which will form the backbone of their concert diary) and a recording agreement with the innovative Linn Records.
Matthew Halls has a long established pedigree in the opera house. Having become known as one of the leading chorus masters in Europe, he has subsequently conducted a wide range of repertoire with companies such as English Touring Opera, New Chamber Opera and Amsterdam Bach Festival. Last season (2008-2009) he conducted the UK premiere of Georg Benda’s opera-singspiel Romeo and Juliet in conjunction with Bampton Classical Opera and London Mozart Players. His operatic repertoire naturally covers all the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical works, but also extends to a wide range of much later repertoire, with a particular focus on the Italian Bel Canto and the B. Britten operas. His association with both The Netherlands Opera and Nationale Reisopera Holland have included productions of Verdi's Luisa Miller, B. Britten's Peter Grimes and Bellini's Norma, as well as G.F. Handel’s Hercules, Samson, Solomon and Saul. This past season (2008-2009) he made an acclaimed North American opera debut conducting G.F. Handel’s Rinaldo for Central City Opera, who immediately invited him back to conduct Madama Butterfly in the 2010 season.
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