Holly Mathieson (born 28 May 1981 in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

) is a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

conductor and music academic.

Education and early life

Mathieson completed her BMus (hons) in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

and

analysis Analysis (: analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

from the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

in 2001. She earned an MMus in orchestral conducting from the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. She received a PhD in music from Otago in 2010 on the subject of the

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

of Louis Jullien, Hans Richter and Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

. In 2004, Mathieson conducted the world premiere in 2004 of

Anthony Ritchie Anthony Damian Ritchie (born 18 September 1960) is a New Zealand composer and academic. He has been a freelance composer accepting commissions for works and in 2018 he became professor of composition at The University of Otago after 18 years o ...

's ''

The God Boy ''The God Boy'' is a novel written by Ian Cross, first published in 1957 and reprinted in 2003. Cross, who was a journalist, based the story on the real lives of juvenile delinquents he encountered in his work. The book was adapted as an o ...

''. Mathieson is a graduate of the St Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic masterclass (Alexander Polishchuk and Mark Stringer), London Conducting Workshop ( Neil Thomson and John Farrer),

Dartington International Summer School Dartington International Summer School was a British summer school and festival of music held on the medieval estate of Dartington Hall, Devon, England, and the first summer school of music in the United Kingdom. It was a department of the Dart ...

(John Carewe and Pierre-André Valade), and the Pärnu Music Festival Järvi Academy (Leonid Grin,

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian Americans, Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Saint Petersburg, Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevge ...

and

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian conductor. He has been chief conductor of Zurich's Tonhalle since 2020. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia (then occupied by the Soviet Union), to Liilia Järvi and the Estoni ...

Career

In the UK, Mathieson became an orchestral librarian with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI Classics, EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Rich ...

in 2010, while she continued to study conducting privately. With the Philharmonia, she was a conducting assistant to

Christoph Von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnan ...

and

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish conducting, conductor and composer. He is the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra in London and the Sw ...

. She has been an assistant conductor to

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop (; born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor. She is the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimor ...

in projects with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Paris and Berlin,

Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is a British period instrument orchestra. The OAE is a resident orchestra of the Southbank Centre, London, associate orchestra at Glyndebourne Festival Opera Artistic Associate at Kings Place, and ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

’s

Last Night of the Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

. In 2013, Mathieson became founding artistic director of the Horizont Musik-Kollektiv (Berlin). For 2014-2015, she was a Leverhulme Fellow in conducting at the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama () is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and film in Glasgow, Scotland. It is a member of the Federation of Drama Schools. Founde ...

(RCS), mentored by

Garry Walker Garry Walker (born 1974, Edinburgh) is a Scottish conductor. Biography Walker received his secondary school education at St Mary's Music School. His initial musical training was as a cellist, and he subsequently played cello in the Edinburg ...

, and assistant to

Donald Runnicles Sir Donald Cameron Runnicles (born 16 November 1954) is a Scottish conductor, known for his Romantic symphonic and operatic repertoire, especially Richard Wagner, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss and Anton Bruckner. With a career that has spanned ...

at the

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) is a Scottish broadcasting symphony orchestra based in Glasgow. One of five full-time orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it is the oldest full-time professional rad ...

. Mathieson has served as associate conductor of Opera Holland Park. In 2015, Mathieson became Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland Junior Orchestra. Between 2015 and 2017, Mathieson was Vocal Director and Lecturer in Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. From 2016 to 2018, Mathieson was assistant conductor of the

Royal Scottish National Orchestra The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) () is a Scottish orchestra, based in Glasgow. It is one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an important part in Scotland’s ...

. In 2018, Mathieson was named co-artistic director of the Nevis Ensemble, alongside Jon Hargreaves, her husband. With the

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is a music organisation based in Liverpool, England, that manages a professional symphony orchestra, a concert venue, and extensive programmes of learning through music. Its orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmo ...

and Isata Kanneh-Mason, Mathieson has recorded music of

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

commercially for Decca Classics. In 2018, Mathieson first guest-conducted Symphony Nova Scotia, as one of two finalist candidates for the post of music director with the orchestra. She returned in November 2019 for a further guest-conducting engagement. In December 2019, Symphony Nova Scotia announced the appointment of Mathieson as its next music director, effective January 2020, with an initial contract of 3 years. This appointment marks her first orchestral music directorship. Mathieson is the first female conductor to be named music director of Symphony Nova Scotia. Mathieson is scheduled to step down from her music director position at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Mathieson and Hargreaves reside in Glasgow. In 2021 she returned New Zealand to conduct the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for the first time in concerts with the metal band Alien Weaponry.

Awards

* 2009: Adrienne, Lady Stewart and the New Zealand Arts Foundation, NZ Arts Foundation recipient

References

External links

Official website of Holly Mathieson

The Arts Foundation, New Zealand, page on Holly Mathieson

'Ep. 95: Holly Mathieson, conductor'
Interview by Tigran Arakelyan
Calling Home: Holly Mathieson in Glasgow/Nova Scotia
Interview on Radio New Zealand, RNZ, 12 June 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathieson, Holly 1981 births Living people New Zealand women conductors (music) New Zealand academics University of Otago alumni 21st-century New Zealand conductors (music)