Photo: Eric Richmond

Matthew Halls

Representation: General Management

Matthew Halls has established himself as one of today’s leading young conductors. A former Artistic Director of The King’s Consort, 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. Having initially established his reputation as a keyboard player, 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. Beyond the early repertoire in which he has initially established his reputation, Halls is known for his passion for the Germanic repertoire, particularly Beethoven, Brahms, 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 Britten, Gesualdo and Schoenberg.

Now firmly established as a conductor of international repute, Halls has made significant debuts with orchestras such as Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Hessischer Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester, Norrköping Sinfonieorchester, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Iceland Symphony, Les Violons du Roy and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Forthcoming engagements include concerts with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Het Residentie Orkest, Bach Collegium Stuttgart, Houston Symphony and Northern Sinfonia.

Building on his long established pedigree in the opera house, Halls has made recent debuts with opera companies such as Handelfestspiele Halle, Salzburg Landestheater and Central City Opera Colorado. All resulted in immediate reinvitations and Halls returned to Colorado in summer 2010 to conduct a hugely successful production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly with director Catherine Malfitano. Halls’ operatic repertoire naturally covers all 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 Britten operas. His association with both The Netherlands Opera and Nationale Reisopera Holland have included productions of Verdi Luisa Miller, Britten Peter Grimes and Bellini Norma, as well as Handel’s Hercules, Samson, Solomon and Saul. In 2011/12 he will make his Opera North debut, conducting a new production of Handel Giulio Cesare.

In 2009, Halls established the very highly regarded Retrospect Ensemble. With an annual Wigmore Hall series providing the backbone of its concert diary, the ensemble already boasts a recording contract with the innovative Linn Records and a series of concert engagements from the Edinburgh International Festival, across Europe to the Singapore Esplanade and a relationship with the Korean National Opera, with whom the ensemble recently collaborated for performances of Gluck’s Orphée.

Matthew Halls remains very active as a harpsichordist, with Bach recitals at venues across the UK, including the South Bank Centre and Wigmore Hall, and performances including the Goldberg Variations as far afield as Israel, Ottawa, Quebec City and Moscow.

Educated at Oxford University, Halls subsequently joined the teaching faculty of the University for five years. Passionately committed to education and working with young musicians, the development of Retrospect Ensemble’s Young Artist Programme has been a priority for him. Matthew is also a tutor for the European Union Baroque Orchestra and regularly teaches on summer schools and courses such as the Jerusalem Early Music Workshop and the Dartington International Summer School.


Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Sarah Trelawny