Matthew Sharp

Bass-Baritone & Cellist

OK. This will evolve. Please join me in the 3rd Person (for now...)

Matthew Sharp was born in Lisbon and studied at the Köln Musikhochschule (with Boris Pergamenschikow), Trinity College, Cambridge and in London. He made his concerto debut aged twelve (London Young Sinfonia, St. John’s, Smith Square) and since then has performed at major venues and festivals in Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Gulf, India and the US. In 1991 he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society's Julius Isserlis Scholarship. He has also followed a bespoke path into opera. Formative influences on his musical, vocal and theatrical development include Jacqueline du Pré, Galina Vischnewskaya, the Amadeus Quartet, Sergei Leiferkus, Theatre de Complicité, Kneehigh Theatre, David Glass and the gogmagogs. He continues his vocal studies with Ulla Blom.

Highlights from the last two years include Papageno and the title role in the new commission of The Pied Piper for Opera North, the premiere of Pete M Wyer’s May Peace Prevail with the RPO at the Barbican, appearances as soloist and presenter with the LPO at the QEH, tours of the Elgar and Dvorak concertos with the Orchestra-of-the-Swan, premieres of songs by Errollyn Wallen (Wigmore Hall) and Richard Causton (Purcell Room), and recitals in Paris, Stockholm, Philadelphia and across the UK.

Matthew has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists, among them pianists Stephen Kovacevich, Keith Tippett and Dominic Harlan, violinist Lara St John, jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy, oboist Nicholas Daniel, clarinettist Martin Fröst, the RPO, the LPO, santoor virtuoso Tarun Bhattacharya, the Vertavo Quartet, guitarist/singer-songwriter Crispian Mills, and Arabic group, Sabreen. He has broadcast widely on TV and Radio and released discs for Sony, Naxos and Avie.

Matthew has worked with over 30 composers and given numerous world premieres, many written especially for him. These include John Tavener’s Petra (Aldeburgh, City of London, Sydney, Toronto festivals, New York’s Grand Central Station and Knitting Factory) and The Fool (South Bank, Norwich Festival), Mike Westbrook’s Chanson Irresponsable (Auditorio di Milano, broadcast on Performance on 3), and in works by Richard Dubugnon (composer-in-residence, Montpellier Opera).

He has also worked widely with writers, directors, choreographers, and film-makers. Some of the fruits of these collaborations include the short film Cacophony, in which he plays the lead and soundtrack (Curzon, Soho, London Film Festival), the BloodAxe/Book Communications UK tour of Staying Alive (for which he also wrote the music), the inaugural concert of the International Victor Hugo Festival, and the upcoming duet with dancer/choreographer Satu Elovaara, to be performed in Helsinki later this year.

Matthew is co-artistic director of SharpWire. Their first show, the multi-media song-cycle Adam's Apple, was selected for the pioneering This Way Up UK tour, appeared to great acclaim at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and has been broadcast on BBC, WNYC and WFMU radio.

Plans for 2006 include appearances with the RPO, LPO and the Orchestra-of-the-Swan, performances at festivals in Russia, Scandinavia, Africa and the US, the release of a new SharpWire disc, Rain at Night, for Thirsty Ear Records, and the development of a new SharpWire work, Cremenville, in collaboration with Opera North’s Resonance Programme.

Some Unentertained Opinions from Some Unread Reviews (the good ol' Performer's Paradox...)

“Matthew Sharp’s singing raised the evening to a pitch of spiritual feverishness rarely encountered in either concert hall or theatre.” (The Independent on Sunday)

"The last time I saw Matthew Sharp he was giving an excellent solo cello recital…one of the most gratifying of the year. Here, as the fool of the title, he acted with perception, veered from virile bass-baritone to falsetto, and gave further evidence of an astonishingly comprehensive versatility.” (The Daily Telegraph)

“This extraordinarily accomplished and charismatic young cellist…” (The Times)

"Adam's Apple is moving and visceral, Matthew Sharp's voice and cello-playing extraordinary." (New Routes Magazine)