Biography
Matthew Wadsworth, lutenist, is in great demand as a soloist, continuo player and chamber musician. He has appeared at major festivals in the UK, Europe and North America and can frequently be heard on radio, both in live performance and on disc.
Matthew has recorded for Avie, Deux-Elles, Linn and EMI Records. His CDs, “When Laura Smiles”, (featuring music by Phillip Rosseter), “Away Delights” (Robert Johnson) and “14 Silver Strings” (Kapsberger and Piccinini) have received international critical acclaim.
Matthew is delighted to have recently been taken on as a solo artist by Channel Classics, and their first collaboration, ‘Masters of the Lute’ was Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine, December 2006.
Matthew studied lute with Nigel North at London’s Royal Academy of Music, winning the London Student of the Year award in 1997 for his work on the development of Braille lute tablature. He then spent a year at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague and now has a post at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. Wadsworth was recently made an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music and was nominated by The Independent as a “Rising Star for 2005”. He is also Musical Ambassador for Britain's National Talking Newspapers and Magazines.
Recent engagements have included the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, the Georgian Concert Society (Edinburgh), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) and the Lufthansa, Beverley, Spitalfields, Budapest, Vancouver, Mitte-Europa and Innsbruck festivals. Matthew has also worked with The Academy of Ancient Music, English Touring Opera, Birmingham Opera Company, The Netherlands Bach Society, I Fagiolini, The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, The Musicians of the Globe, Arion, Constantinople and The Theatre of Early Music, among others.
"Matthew Wadsworth dazzles with his dexterity"
(“Rising stars of 2005”, The Independent Magazine, January 2005)
"Matthew Wadsworth speaks the baroque language like a native"
(BBC Music Magazine, CD Pick of the Month, May 2003)
"Matthew Wadsworth has an imperious command of some impressive solo material"
(Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone Editor's choice, June 2003)
Updated bio for promotors (September 2006): Download Word Document
