Matthew Whiteside (born 1988) is a composer based in Scotland. His work includes opera, chamber music, sound installations and soundtracks.

Career

Originally from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

, Whiteside moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

after studying music at

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. In 2012, he was awarded his masters in composition from the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

, and since then has worked as a freelance composer. His work has been featured in Sound Festival, the Cottier Chamber Project,

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

(as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase) and the NI Science Festival. His music has been performed by the

RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO; previously known as RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra) is the largest professional orchestra in Ireland. Housed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, since January 2022, it used ...

Scottish Opera Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. History Scottish O ...

Connect, Cappella Nova,

Red Note Ensemble Red Note Ensemble is one of the contemporary music ensembles in Scotland, formed by some musicians in the UK. Playing and developing contemporary music, the ensemble performs to audiences around and beyond Scotland. It was partially named for the ...

and

Garth Knox Garth Knox (born 8 October 1956 in Dublin, Ireland) is a violist and composer who specializes in contemporary classical music and new music. Biography Knox was the youngest of four siblings, and although he was born in Ireland, he was raised in ...

and broadcast on

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster ( ga, BBC Raidió Uladh) is a Northern Irish radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. It is ...

RTÉ lyric fm RTÉ Lyric FM (stylised as RTÉ lyric fm) is an Irish classical-music and arts radio station, owned and operated by RTÉ. The station, which is based in Limerick, was launched in 1999 and is available on FM throughout Ireland (in some areas ...

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The st ...

BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available on ...

CyBC Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation ( gr, Ραδιοφωνικό Ίδρυμα Κύπρου , tr, Kıbrıs Radyo Yayın Kurumu), or CyBC (ΡΙΚ, KRYK), is Cyprus' public broadcasting service. It transmits island-wide on four radio and two domestic ...

and

WFMT WFMT is an FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a format of fine arts, classical music programming, and shows exploring such genres as folk. The station is managed by Window to the World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, Chicago's ...

. With support from

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The or ...

, in 2015, Whiteside released his debut album ''Dichroic Light'' featuring a selection of music for soloists and chamber ensembles both acoustic and with live electronics. ''Solo for Viola D’amore and Live Electronics,'' recorded by Emma Lloyd and featured on ''Dichroic Light,'' was described as having the overall effect of ‘one of meditation – a Japanese stone garden whose raked ripples have been brought into sound’. The same year he was commissioned to collaborate with artist Dominika Mayovich on ''When Two Worlds Collide,'' an interactive installation for R-Space Gallery and Sound Scotland, and he scored the documentary, ''Michael Palin's Quest for Artemisia'' for

BBC 4 BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

directed by Eleanor Yule and Bernd Porr's indie feature film, '' Anna Unbound''. Whiteside was commissioned in 2016 by Lorimer Productions to compose ''Nobilis Humilis'' inspired by the hymn to St Magnus, ''"Nobilis, humilis"'' for Cappella Nova's Echoes and Traces tour. The same year he was commissioned by Cottier Chamber Project to compose a piece based on the work of

Lord Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important ...

and

John Stewart Bell John Stewart Bell FRS (28 July 1928 – 1 October 1990) was a physicist from Northern Ireland and the originator of Bell's theorem, an important theorem in quantum physics regarding hidden-variable theories. In 2022, the Nobel Prize in Phy ...

for Juice Vocal Ensemble,

Glasgow University Chapel Choir The University of Glasgow Memorial Chapel is a chapel at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. It was consecrated on 4 October 1929, and is dedicated to the memory of the former students and staff of the university who died in the First World ...

and

Davur Juul Magnussen Davur Juul Magnussen (born 1986) is a Faroese trombonist from Tórshavn, who now lives in Scotland. He was appointed as the principal trombone chair of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra at the age of 22. He is the youngest member of the nation ...

trombone ensemble for performance in the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Cloisters. The resulting piece was called ''Always Ever Unknowable'' with words written by Danish Playwright Helene Grøn. He also attended Magnetic North's Rough Mix residency in Aberdeen. In 2017, Whiteside was commissioned by Scottish Opera to again collaborate with Helene Grøn for a short opera for Scottish Opera Connect called ''Little Black Lies''. He was also accepted onto the RTÉ NSO/CMC composer lab to write ''Repercussive'' and commissioned by the Institute of Physics for the NI Science Festival to collaborate with Marisa Zanotti on writing ''Entangled'' for string quartet, electronics and film based on the work of

for and premièred at the NI Science Festival 2018 by the Aurea Quartet. This work was also featured on his second album ''Entangled'' release in October 2019. He also scored David Graham Scott's ''The End of the Game'' and was supported by

to attended the Atelier for Young Festival and Cultural Managers in Shanghai run by the

European Festivals Association The European Festivals Association (EFA) is an umbrella group for various festivals in Europe and other countries. It supports artistic cooperation among festivals and offers programs for new festival and artistic managers. It represents more than ...

. While still a student he founded Edit-Point with fellow composer Timothy Cooper. Together, along with Nicholas Virgo and Louise Rossiter, they produced 16 concerts of electroacoustic music including concerts at Sound Scotland,

Belfast Festival at Queen's Belfast International Arts Festival, formerly known as Belfast Festival at Queen’s, claims to be the city’s longest running international arts event. Originally established in 1962, it was hosted by Queen’s University until 2015, after whi ...

and

Glasgow City Halls Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket is a concert hall and former market located on Candleriggs, in the Merchant City, Glasgow, Scotland. History The City Halls are part of a market complex designed by John Carrick in 1882, but the grand ha ...

. In 2016, Whiteside began The Night With... putting contemporary classical music into informal venues. The Night With... became a

SCIO Scio or SCIO may refer to: Places * Chios (Genoese: ''Scio''), a Greek island in the Aegean Sea United States * Scio, New York, a town ** Scio (CDP), New York, the primary settlement in the town * Scio, Ohio * Scio, Oregon * Scio Township, Michi ...

in 2018 with Whiteside as CEO & Artistic Director. As of December 2018 he has produced 17 concerts in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen as The Night With...

Prizes and awards

* 2021 **Award for Large Scale New Work (11+ performers), sponsored by

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

at the Scottish Awards for New Music for Night Thoughts *2020 **The SMIA Award for Creative Programming at the Scottish Awards for New Music for The Night With... 2019 season *2019 **The List Hot 100 *2018 ** Light Moves Innovative Use of Sound Award ** (Shortlisted) Best Musical Artist –

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a cent ...

Culture Awards **PRS for Music Foundation Classical:Next Fellow * 2017 ** One To Watch –

Culture Awards **

, Opera Sparks

Selected compositions

*Night Thoughts (2020; flute, clarinet, trombone, percussion, piano, electric guitar, violin, viola, cello, double bass) *Rama (2019; flute, bass clarinet, percussion, piano) *Quartet No. 6 (2019; string quartet) *Quartet No. 5 (2019; string quartet) *''...Everyone is a Child of the Inbetween...'' (2018; soprano and clarinet. Words by Helene Grøn) *''Quartet No. 4, Entangled'' (2017; string quartet, electronics and film) *''Little Black Lies'' (2017; soloists, chorus and ensemble. Libretto by Helene Grøn) *''Repercussive'' (2017; orchestra) *''Piece for Violin and Bass Clarinet'' (2017) *''Dry Vista'' (2016; contrabass flute and electronics) *''Nobilis Humilis'' (2016; choir) *''Always Ever Unknowable'' (2016; vocal trio, choir and trombone quartet. Words by Helene Grøn) *''Unda Malacia'' (2016; tape) *''Exhibition Music'' (2015; 2x bass clarinet, violin, viola, cello and electronics) *''Solo for Viola D’amore and Electronics (''2015) *''Three Pieces for Bass Clarinet and Electronics'' (2014) *''Quartet for Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass'' (2013) *''Well, Well, Well'' (2013; flute, viola, double bass) *''Ulation'' (2013; viola and live electronics) *''Vociferous Palpitation'' (2012; tape) *''Dichroic Light'' (2011; cello and electronics) *''Quartet No. 3'' (2011; string quartet and electronics) *''The World in an Oyster, the Oyster in the World'' (2011; piano trio) *''for Matt Mattera'' (2010; trumpet) *''Puddle Wonderful'' (2009; female soloists and chamber orchestra) *''Quartet No. 1'' (2008; string quartet)

Recordings

''Dichroic Light'' – IMBT 1501 ''Anna Unbound'' – IMBT 1502 ''Exhibition Music'' – IMBT 1601 ''Piece for Violin and Bass Clarinet'' – IMBT 1701 ''...Everyone is a Child of the Inbetween...'' – IMBT 1801 ''Unda Malacia'' – MW 1901 ''Entangled'' – MW 1902

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteside, Matthew 1988 births Living people Male composers from Northern Ireland Alumni of Queen's University Belfast 21st-century composers from Northern Ireland Male classical composers from Northern Ireland Scottish classical composers 21st-century classical composers Experimental composers Alumni of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Musicians from Lisburn Classical composers from Northern Ireland 21st-century male musicians from Northern Ireland