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The Australian tenor and music teacher, Matthew Thomson, obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Performance, Classical Voice from the University of Melbourne (2006-2010; Activities and Societies: Early Voices, Baroque Ensemble, Art of Historical Gesture with Helga Hill; Studied with Vivien Hamilton); and his Master of Music degree in Performance Teaching - Classical Voice from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne, under the tutelage of Stephen Grant (2013-2014; Activities and Societies: Tim Carter Master-class, Andrew Lawrence-King Master-class, Don Greene Performance Anxiety Workshop, Gerald Marko Estill Masterclass, Baroque Ensemble).
In 2015 Matthew Thomson was senior choral scholar of Newman College and before moving to Barcelona, he 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.
Matthew Thomson specialises in Baroque to Classical chamber and solo repertoire and also has a keen interest in performing new compositions. In September 2015, he moved to Barcelona where he is learning some Spanish and Catalan. Since moving to Barcelona he has been working/worked with various vocal groups including La Capella Reial de Catalunya with Jordi Savall and Lluis Vilamajo, the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música, O Vos Omnes, Barcelona Ars Nova, the Cor de Cambra de Granollers, Cor de Anton Bruckner, resident choir at the ESMUC ‘The Beauty Fools’, and new group Kosmos Quartet Vocal which he has started with 3 other like-minded singers in Barcelona.
In European summer 2016, Matthew Thomson 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. He made the most of his two weeks at Dartington where he was a student in Dame Emma Kirkby's master-classes. Matthew performed solos in several concerts: Tenor soloist alongside Stile Antico performing Duo Seraphim in Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, Tenor soloist in George Frideric 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 2017, he was awarded the BECA Bach (Bach Scholarship) for 2017 to perform as the tenor soloist in around 11 J.S. Bach cantatas with Bach Zum Mitsingen.
Highlights in Matthew Thomson's career as a soloist include; 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 at Woodend Winter Arts Festival), J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232) (Woodend Winter Arts Festival, Gloriana Chamber Choir), Haydn’s Nelson Mass and W.A. Mozart's Vespers of a Confessor (WWAF), G.F. Handel's Messiah (St Peter’s Eastern Hill), Ugis Praulinš’ Missa Rigensis (Gloriana Chamber Choir), and the role of the Evangelist in J.S. Bach's St John Passion (BWV 245) (Vox, Ballarat). In early 2015, he also performed as a soloist in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) 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 Thomson 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. He is a member of Bach Collegium Barcelona (since 2018; Director: Pau Jorquera).
Currently Matthew Thomson is also a vocal teacher at Granollers music school Amics de la Unió (since March 2016) as well as being the official teacher of the tenors of Cor Anton Bruckner. He also works as an ESL teacher at INORBIS, where he teaches a range of ages and levels, although focusing mainly on the levels of FCE and CAE. |
