Matthew Best's career combines a fast-growing international reputation as an exponent of the great Wagner and Strauss Heldenbariton roles with a distinctive conducting career featuring a distinguished contribution to the recorded repertory.
Matthew studied at Kings College, Cambridge, and at the National Opera Studio, and in 1982 won the Decca-Kathleen Ferrier Prize. At the outset of his career, he sang as a principal bass with The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and as a guest with many other companies, and in recent years he has moved into the bass-baritone and Heldenbariton repertory. This process reached a significant landmark when he sang the role of Wotan/The Wanderer in Scottish Opera's new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen , first seen at the Edinburgh International Festival.
Other engagements have included Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde with La Monnaie, Don Pizarro Leonore under Gardiner at the Proms, Salzburg Festival, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam and the Lincoln Center Festival, New York; Swallow Peter Grimes for ROH; Siegfried and Die Walküre and Orest Elektra in Stuttgart; Wotan Siegfried Opéra de Lyon; the title role in The Flying Dutchman, Opera de Rouen; Vairochana in the world premiere production of Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream in Luxembourg, Amsterdam and Paris; Peneios Daphne for his debut with Santa Fe Opera, followed by Tsargo Adrianna Mater in 2008; Scarpia Tosca, Amfortas Parsifal, Kurwenal, Don Pizarro Fidelio for Scottish Opera; Count Walter Luisa Miller and Scarpia for Opera North; Wotan The Rhinegold, King Marke Tristan und Isolde, Jochanaan Salome for English National Opera; Cadmus The Bassarids at the Châtelet, Paris and in Cologne; Jochanaan and Mr. Flint Billy Budd with LSO/Richard Hickox; and Pizarro Fidelio (concert performances) with both the CBSO and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
Matthew also has a busy concert career, which includes performances of The Dream of Gerontius, Beethoven 9, Shostakovich 14, Elijah, the Verdi Requiem and Mahler 8 with orchestras in UK and Europe.
Future engagements include The Dream of Gerontius with MDR Leipzig, Ramfis Aida for ENO, Jochanaan for Welsh National Opera, Rossini Stabat Mater at Gloucester Cathedral, Messiah at Birmingham Symphony Hall, Swallow Peter Grimes at the ENO and his first Hans Sachs at the Tiroler Festspiele under Gustav Kuhn.
Recordings include Beethoven's Leonore , Berlioz' L'enfance du Chri st, Britten's Billy Budd and Peter Grimes , Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius , Falla's El Retablo di Maese Pedro , Menotti's Martin's Lie and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia .
Matthew Best's conducting activities include his long-standing association with The Corydon Orchestra and Singers, of which he is founder and artistic director. His many notable recordings with them include highly acclaimed performances of Bruckner's Masses and Te Deum , Berlioz' L'Enfance du Christ and Vaughan Williams' opera Hugh the Drover . His guest conducting includes appearances with the English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, City of London Sinfonia, Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, English Northern Philharmonia, the New Queen's Hall Orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra, The Manchester Camerata and The Hanover Band (where he was Principal Conductor for the 1998/99 season). In December 2000 he made his debut with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and in 2008 he conducted the St Matthew Passion with the Northern Sinfonia.
Matthew Best is represented by Intermusica.
October 2008 / 517 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.