Matthew Thomson, originally from Melbourne, Australia, is a Barcelona-based Tenor who specialises in Baroque to Classical chamber and solo repertoire. Matthew also has a keen interest in performing new compositions. In 2014 he completed a Master of Music (Performance Teaching) at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, under the tutelage of Stephen Grant. Matthew is a trained and experienced vocal teacher available for private classes and through Granollers music school Amics de la Unió. He is also the official teacher of the tenors of Cor Anton Bruckner.

Since moving to Barcelona in September 2015, Matthew has worked with almost all of the professional vocal groups in the city, including; the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música, Ensemble O Vos Omnes, Cor Francesc Valls, Cor Cererols, La Capella Reial de Catalunya with Jordi Savall and Lluis Vilamajo, Barcelona Ars Nova, as well as assisting some amateur choirs like the Cor de Cambra of Granollers. Matthew will also be singing with the new Cor de Cambra de l’Auditori de Barcelona in its upcoming season.

Over the last 5 years, Matthew has also been a part of four CD Recordings. Cum Silentio with Cor Cererols, Epistulae ad Saggitarium with Ensemble O Vos Omnes, Bach ist meine freude with Bach Collegium Barcelona, J.S. Bach Markus Passion BWV 247 (1744) with La Capella Reial de Catalunya – Jordi Savall.

While living in Barcelona Matthew has also regularly performed the role of Orfeo in Club Monteverdi with group Vox Harmonica. Club Monteverdi is a 6-person working opera spectacular which has been performed all over Catalunya to much critical acclaim.

In 2017 Matthew was awarded the BECA Bach (Bach Scholarship) for 2017 to perform as the tenor soloist in around 11 Bach cantatas with Bach Zum Mitsingen.

In European summer 2016, Matthew attended the Dartington International Summer School where he was the first recipient of the Dartington International Summer School John Amis Award through the Tait Memorial Trust. Matthew made the most of his two weeks at Dartington where he was a student in Dame Emma Kirkby’s masterclasses. Matthew performed solos in several concerts: Tenor soloist alongside Stile Antico performing Duo Seraphim in Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, Tenor soloist in Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, and to great success the roles of ‘Pyramus’ in John F. Lampe’s Pyramus & Thisbe and ‘Sailor’ in Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas.

In 2015 Matthew was senior choral scholar of Newman College and before moving to Barcelona, Matthew performed regularly with a variety of different Melbourne-based professional choirs, such as; the choir of St Peter’s Eastern Hill, the Canterbury Fellowship, Astra Chamber Choir, Ensemble Gombert, Gloriana Chamber Choir and Consort of Melbourne.

Highlights in Matthew’s career as a soloist include; the role of Don Ettore in Haydn’s La Canterina (in Catalan with opera company Teatre de les Comedies), España 1556 (with Melbourne-based Renaissance band La Compañia), Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers (2015 Newman tour of New Zealand; Advent Festival Newman College; Ballarat Organs of the Goldfields Festival), Jacopo Peri’s Euridice (the role of Tirsi – Woodend Winter Arts Festival), Bach’s B Minor Mass (Woodend Winter Arts Festival, Gloriana Chamber Choir), Haydn’s Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Vespers of a Confessor (WWAF), Handel’s Messiah (St Peter’s Eastern Hill), Ugis Praulinš’ Missa Rigensis (Gloriana Chamber Choir), and the role of the Evangelist in Bach’s St John Passion (Vox, Ballarat). In early 2015, Matthew also performed as a soloist in Bach’s St Matthew Passion in the Ballarat Organs of the Goldfields Festival, reviewed by Clive O’Connell in The Age [January 11, 2015] as an “eloquent and polished solitary contribution”.

Matthew has toured with various choirs as a chamber singer and soloist; in 2015 New Zealand with Newman College Choir performing Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, in 2014 Venice, Italy and Bucharest, Romania with the Astra Chamber Choir performing various new compositions, and tours to various Australian cities with Ensemble Gombert and The Australian Chamber Choir.

(Photo by Belinda Strodder)

Live performance of Comfort Ye, from Handel’s Messiah