Matthew Barley (born 2 May 1965) is an English cellist.Giles Masters
"The Week Ahead: Kontakion"
''The Oxford Culture Review'', 28 November 2013. He is best known for his performances of core classical music, improvisation, and contemporary music including electronics.

Early life and education

Matthew Barley was born in London and trained at the

Guildhall School of Music and Drama The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music school, music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz al ...

in London and the

Moscow Conservatoire The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

. He made his London concerto debut playing the

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded ...

cello concerto in the

Barbican Hall The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and ...

with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, as finalist of the LSO-Shell competition. His first CD, in 2003, was The Silver Swan for Black Box was a compilation of pieces for multitracked cellos, all of which he recorded himself using pioneering techniques of layering voices without an electronic click. His next CD, Reminding, featured Soviet music for cello and piano, and was released on Quartz in September 2005.

Career

In 1997 Barley founded Between the Notes, a performance and education group who work with music and other arts. In 2007, Barley was the music director and presenter of the BBC2 ''Classical Star'' series.

Adam Sweeting Adam Sweeting is a British rock critic and writer. Graeme Thomson, writing for ''The Guardian'', deemed him as an "influential journalist" of the 1970s. He currently writes film and television reviews for '' The Arts Desk''. Biography Sweeting ...

"Matthew Barley: addicted to innovation"
''The Telegraph'', 26 June 2008. As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed in over 50 countries, including appearances with the

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra The BBC Philharmonic is a national British broadcasting symphony orchestra and is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Philharmonic is a department of the BBC North Group division based at Media ...

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 ...

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra The Czech Philharmonic () is a symphony orchestra based in Prague. Its principal performing venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall. History The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title of the orche ...

, Hong Kong Sinfonietta,

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is an Australian orchestra based in Melbourne. The MSO is resident at Hamer Hall. The MSO has its own choir, the MSO Chorus, following integration with the Melbourne Chorale in 2008. The MSO relies on fun ...

Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra The Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra (NRSO) was a Dutch radio orchestra. It was founded in 1985 after a merger of the Promenade Orchestra and the Radio Chamber Orchestra (Omroep Orkest). In 2005, the NRSO was disbanded, and its functions were ...

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony ...

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 ...

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 ...

, with conductors including

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 ...

, Thomas Dausgaard,

Tan Dun Tan Dun (, ; born 18 August 1957) is a Chinese-born American composer and conductor. A leading figure of contemporary classical music, he draws from a variety of Western and Chinese influences, a pairing which has shaped much of his life and mu ...

Charles Hazlewood Charles Matthew Egerton Hazlewood (born 14 November 1966) is a British conductor. After winning the European Broadcasting Union conducting competition in 1995 whilst still in his twenties,Markus Stenz Markus Stenz (born 28 February 1965, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate) is a Germans, German conducting, conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seij ...

Yan Pascal Tortelier Yan Pascal Tortelier (born 19 April 1947) is a French conductor and violinist. Biography Born in Paris, Tortelier is the son of the cellist Paul Tortelier, and the brother of Maria de la Pau. Tortelier began piano and violin studies at age 4. A ...

and

Ilan Volkov Ilan Volkov (; born September 8, 1976, Tel Aviv) is an Israeli orchestral conductor, who has been chief conductor and guest conductor of a number of orchestras. Biography Volkov's father, Alexander Volkov, was a concert pianist. He studied with t ...

. He has performed at festivals in Lucerne, Schleswig-Holstein, Bonn-Beethovenfest, Hong Kong, Lanaudiere, Abu Dhabi, Krakow, City of London and at some of the world's great concert halls: London's

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

, Amsterdam's

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

, Kumho Hall in Korea, Casals Hall in Tokyo, The

Rudolfinum The Rudolfinum is a building in Prague, Czech Republic. It is designed in the neo-Renaissance style and is situated on Jan Palach Square on the bank of the river Vltava. Since its opening in 1885, it has been associated with music and art. C ...

in Prague, and the

Teatro Colon Teatro may refer to: * Theatre * Teatro (band) Teatro, Italian for "theatre", is a vocal group signed to the Sony BMG music label. The members of Teatro are Jeremiah James, Andrew Alexander, Simon Bailey and Stephen Rahman-Hughes. Band membe ...

in Buenos Aires. A key aspect of his recitals is mixing repertoire in unusual ways, pairing Bach suites with jazz and improvisation. He is particularly interested in music with electronics, having commissioned works from many composers including Dai Fujikura, Peter Wiegold, DJ Bee, John Metcalfe and

Jan Bang Jan Bang (born 21 August 1968) is a Norwegian musician and record producer who has worked with Morten Harket, Sidsel Endresen, David Sylvian, Nils Petter Molvær, Arild Andersen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Arve Henriksen, and Erik Honoré. (in Norweg ...

. He has given other premieres of pieces written for him by James MacMillan, Thomas Larcher, Detlev Glanert,

John Woolrich John Woolrich ( ; born 1954 in Cirencester) is an English composer. Biography Woolrich has founded a group (the Composers Ensemble), a festival (Hoxton New Music Days), and has been composer in association with the Orchestra of St John's and t ...

, and Fraser Trainer. In 2005, he toured Brett Dean's ballet score One of the Kind (for solo-on-stage-cello and electronics) with the Netherlands Dans Theatre; in 2010 with the Basel Ballet and in 2012 with Lyon Ballet. Barley has premiered several works including some commissions, by

Pascal Dusapin Pascal Georges Dusapin (born 29 May 1955) is a French composer. His music is marked by its microtonality, tension, and energy. A pupil of Iannis Xenakis and Franco Donatoni and an admirer of Varèse, Dusapin studied at the University of Pari ...

Thomas Larcher Thomas Larcher (born 16 September 1963, in Innsbruck) is an Austrian composer and pianist. Biography and Work Thomas Larcher completed his studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna under Heinz Medjimorec and Elisabeth Leonsk ...

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, TOSD (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is Jam ...

Dai Fujikura Dai Fujikura ( ''Fujikura Dai''; born 27 April 1977) is a Japanese-born composer of contemporary classical music. Biography Dai Fujikura was born in 1977 in Osaka, Japan. He moved to London when he was 15 to study at Dover College as a music ...

Detlev Glanert Detlev Glanert (born 6 September 1960) is a Opera in German, German opera composer, who has also composed numerous works for chamber and full orchestra, including three symphonies. Biography Detlev Glanert was born in Hamburg in 1960. He came ...

, Peter Wiegold, Fraser Trainer, Rand Steiger, John Metcalfe,Andy Gill
"Album: John Metcalfe, Matthew Barley, Constant Filter (Signum Classics)" (review)
''The Independent'', 11 June 2010.

, Dimitri Smirnov, and Deidre Gribben. Barley's classical collaborations include with

Matthias Goerne Matthias Goerne (born 31 March 1967) is a German baritone. He has performed and recorded extensively, both on the opera stage and in Lieder settings. Goerne has been referred to as "Today's leading interpreter of German art songs" by the ''Chica ...

, The Labeque Sisters,

Martin Fröst Martin Fröst (born 14 December 1970) is a Swedish clarinetist and conductor. As a clarinetist, he performs internationally and is considered one of the most renowned instrumental soloists ever. He is the first clarinetist to be awarded ...

Viviane Hagner Viviane Hagner is a German violinist. She was born in Munich, Germany in 1977 (but grew up in Berlin), to a German father and Korean mother. She is sister to Nicole Hagner, the pianist. Hagner started studying the piano at age 3 before switchin ...

and

Non-classical collaborations have included with

Avi Avital Avi Avital (; born 19 October 1978) is an Israeli mandolinist. He is best known for his renditions of well-known Baroque and folk music, much of which was originally written for other instruments. He has been nominated for a Grammy Award (Best I ...

Manu Delago Manu Delago (born 31 July 1984) is an Austrian musician and composer. Biography Delago was born in Innsbruck, Tyrol (state), Tyrol, and took music lessons as a child in accordion and piano. As a teenager he mainly played drums for various rock ...

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical ''sarod'' player, best known for his clear and fast ekhara taans. Khan was born into a classical musical family (the Bangash lineage of the Senia Gharana) and has performed ...

Jon Lord John Douglas "Jon" Lord (9 June 194116 July 2012) was an English keyboardist and composer. In 1968, Lord co-founded the hard rock band Deep Purple. Lord performed on most of the band's most popular songs; he and drummer Ian Paice were the only ...

(Deep Purple),

Talvin Singh Talvin Singh OBE (born 1970) is a British musician, producer, and composer. A tabla player, he is known for creating an innovative fusion of Indian classical music with drum and bass. Singh is generally considered involved with an electronica ...

, Sultan Khan,

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other ...

Django Bates Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musici ...

, and jazz pianists

Julian Joseph Julian Raphael Nathaniel Joseph OBE (born 11 May 1966) is a British jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and broadcaster. He has worked solo, in his big band, trio, quartet, forum project band or electric band. Biography Joseph was bo ...

and

Nikki Yeoh Nikki Yeoh (born 24 May 1973) is a British jazz pianist who has worked with Courtney Pine, Cleveland Watkiss, Steve Williamson, Chante Moore, The Roots and Neneh Cherry. Born in London, Yeoh is of mixed race origin, having a father from Malaysi ...

. In 2013, Barley toured the UK to celebrate the centenary of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

’s birth, performing 100 concerts and workshops throughout the year. In 2019. he gave the premiere of a concerto by his stepson, jazz bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado, fusing jazz and improvisation with the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

. Barley records for Signum Classics in the UK, his latest disc being Tavener's The Protecting Veil.

Personal life

Barley is married to violinist

Viktoria Mullova Viktoria Yurievna Mullova ( rus, Виктория Юрьевна Муллова, , vʲɪˈktorʲɪjə ˈmuləvə; born 27 November 1959) is a Russian-born British violinist. She is best known for her performances and recordings of a number of v ...

. They have three children: Misha Mullov-Abbado, Katia Mullova-Brind and Nadia Mullova-Barley, and live in London. A major project of Barley and Mullova's called The Peasant Girl has seen over 40 performances worldwide. The programme features Barley's arrangements of gypsy and jazz as well as Bartók and Kodaly and has been recorded for CD and DVD on Onyx Classics.

Selected discography

* ''The Protecting Veil'', 2019. Sukhvinder ‘Pinky’ Singh (tabla), Olwyn Fouéré, Julie Christie (speakers),

Sinfonietta Rīga Sinfonietta Rīga is a state chamber orchestra in Latvia founded in 2006. Consisting of young students, the orchestra is influenced by Western and Eastern culture. Arvo Pärt's works were presented by the ensemble at the Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg. T ...

(Signum Classics SIGCD585) * ''99 Words'', 2017. Sir John Tavener & Roxana Panufnik (Signum Classics SIGCD519) Voce Chamber Choir, Suzy Digby (conductor) * ''Around Britten'', 2013 (Signum Classics SIGCD318) * ''Face to Face with Alex Heffes'', 2012 (Onyx 4050). One-on-one improvised duets with Alex Heffes * ''The Peasant Girl'', 2011 (Onyx Classics); With Viktoria Mullova and the Matthew Barley Ensemble * ''Constant Filter'', 2010 (Signum Classics SIGCD207). Music by John Metcalfe * ''The Dance of the three-legged elephants'', 2009 (Signum Classics SIGCD171). With Julian Joseph * ''Reminding'', 2005 (Quartz QTZ 2032) * ''Extraordinary Improvisations'', 2005 (FMR Records FMRCD234-0707) * ''Knots'', 2005 (Black Box BBM1095). With Viktoria Mullova * ''Strings Attached'', 2003 (Navras NRCD6004). Sarod and cello * ''The Silver Swan'', 2003 (Black Box Records BBM 1068). Multi-tracked cello * ''Through the Looking Glass'', 2000 (Philips, 464 184–2). With Viktoria Mullova and Between the Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barley, Matthew 1965 births Living people British classical cellists Musicians from Sheffield Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama