• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Works
    • Upcoming performances
    • Past performances
  • Recordings
  • Listen
  • Gallery
  • News & Views
    • Articles
  • Contact

Colin Matthews

Composer

Raucous, modern, tone-crunching … aggressive, in-your-face music.

— Lawrence A. Johnson, Sun-Sentinel

Two new recordings

29 June, 2016

NMC has just released a new album of works by Colin Matthews featuring conductors Riccardo Chailly, Oliver Knussen, Rumon Gamba, and soloists Leila Josefowicz (violin) and Anssi Karttunen (cello). The disc is now available to order on NMC.

This album showcases three large-scale orchestral pieces; the dark, Mahlerian Cortège (1988) being the earliest work recorded on the album. The Violin Concerto (2009) was composed for Leila Josefowicz; the piece emerged naturally from her musical personality, style and technique. Cello Concerto No.2 (1996) was composed for Mstislav Rostropovich, who gave its first performance with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis at the Barbican, London, in September 1996.

Visit the NMC website to order the disc and listen to excerpts from the recording.

Also just out on Costa Records is a selection of contemporary British repertoire from the Berlin Oboe Quartet, featuring Colin Matthews’ 1st and 2nd Oboe Quartets as well as pieces by Benjamin Britten, Richard Rodney Bennett and Helen Grime.

Available to order from Costa Records.

Primary Sidebar

Search Works & Recordings

Latest News & Views

Around 25 musicians and composers line up to take a bow on stage at the Snape Maltings Concert Hall

Britten Pears Arts Composition and Performance 2026

16 September, 2026

Hans Werner Henze poses for a photo between Colin and Belinda Matthews. Another man (Olly Knussen) is just visible next to Colin.

Hans Werne Henze

1 July, 2026

CM, Michael Tilson Thomas & Joshua Robison posing outside next to a car door

Michael Tilson Thomas

24 April, 2026

Upcoming Performances

Click on the date and title of the performance to view venue and booking details in a new window.

6 November, 2026 - Five Songs (Sibelius/Matthews)
Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Pietari Inkinen (Conductor), Johanna Rusanen (Soprano)
Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore

12 November, 2026 - Nicht zu Schnell (Mahler/Matthews)
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Gimeno (Conductor)
Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Canada

14 November, 2026 - Nicht zu Schnell (Mahler/Matthews(
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Gimeno (Conductor)
Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Canada

14 November, 2026 - La cathédrale engloutie / Ondine / La fille aux cheveux de lin / La Puerta del Vino (Debussy/Matthews)
Fulham Symphony Orchestra, Marc Dooley (Conductor)
Smith Square Hall, London

22 November, 2026 - Estrangement
Emmanuel Choir
Emmanuel Church, Baltimore

View all performances

Useful Links

Faber Music
NMC Recordings
The Holst Foundation

© 2026 Colin Matthews · Website by Bookswarm

Menu
  • Home
  • Biography
  • Works
    • Upcoming performances
    • Past performances
  • Recordings
  • Listen
  • Gallery
  • News & Views
    • Articles
  • Contact