He has held Guest Conductor and Assistant positions across Europe including an ongoing partnership with Maestro Sebastian Weigle. He has worked with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (Elgar Dream of Gerontius), the Orquestra Simfonica del Gran Teatre del Liceu (Britten Death in Venice), the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (Stravinsky Petrushka), the City of London Sinfonia (Rossini, Mozart, Brahms) the Northern Chamber Orchestra (Bach Mass in B minor) and the Academia Orquestra de Gran Teatre del Liceu (Brahms Symphony No. 4). Matthew has worked alongside artists such as James Gilchrist, Christopher Purves, Madeleine Easton, Denise Leigh, James Rutherford, Grant Doyle, Helena Dix, Scott Hendricks, Ivan Balaguer-Zarzo, Katie van Kooten and Kai Gleusteen.

Since graduating from the Royal College of Music, London, Matthew has conducted over 200 concerts and tours with ensembles across Europe in a wide repertoire including Vaughan-Williams A Sea Symphony, Humperdink Hänsel und Gretel, Gesualdo Sabbato Sancto, Peter Maxwell Davies An Orkney wedding with sunrise and Berlioz's tour de force Grande messe des morts involving over 350 musicians.

Matthew has performed in many leading concert venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, St. John’s Smith Square and the Wigmore Hall, working with some of the world’s leading musicians including Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. He has gained international recognition through participation in major conducting competitions including the Donatella Flick International Conductors Competition (2008).

Acclaimed for his innovative programming and scholarly approach to making music, recent reviews have proclaimed “...something out of the ordinary,” “...simply a triumph on every level,” “the result was as inspiring as it was exciting” and “the packed audience heard music drama at it’s best.”

Recent performances have included Mahler Symphony No.4, Strauss Four Last Songs, the Sibelius Violin Concerto, Beethoven Overture to Leonore, the Mozart Requiem, Tallis Spem in alium, the Stravinsky Mass, the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Romances Nos. 1 & 2.

Highlights of the 2009/10 season included Bizet Carmen for Opera Holland Park, a Gala Konzert with the Hamburger Symphoniker and Joyce DiDonato, education projects with the City of London Sinfonia, concerts with Keele Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, 6 Moteten by J.S. Bach with the Keele Bach Choir and Hindemith Spielmusik with Dorking Chamber Orchestra.

In October 2010, Matthew conducted the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra in a gala concert of arias featuing Joyce DiDonato.

Matthew Willis is represented by Intermusica.

August 2010 / 439 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.

Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro / Opera Holland Park
Cond. Matthew Willis, Dir. Liam Steel
“…the conductor Matthew Willis set up a cracking pace in the overture and maintained the comic momentum throughout…”

“Musically, there was much to enjoy, especially the spry playing – lovely woodwind solos – that Willis teased out of the City of London Sinfonia.”
Hugh Canning, Opera, September 2011

“The City of London Sinfonia shines under conductor Matthew Willis…”
Graham Rogers, The Stage, July 2011

“In the pit, Mathew Willis delivers a slick account of Mozart’s score… By concentrating on balance, tone and pace, the intricacies inherent in it naturally shine through of their own accord.”
Sam Smith, Music OMH, July 2011

“I am delighted to report of an estimable performance of Mozart's imperishable masterpiece, The Marriage of Figaro, above all from the City of London Sinfonia and conductor Matthew Willis… [Willis] permitted the music to breathe and showed thoroughgoing understanding of its forms…”
Mark Berry, Seen and Heard International, July 2011

“… an exceptionally lyrical interpretation of the score under conductor Matthew Willis…”
Christopher Gray, The Oxford Times, July 2011

“Willis cradles his singers with a lyrical, long-breathed reading of the score that brings the best out of the arias… Willis is certainly singer-friendly…”
Mark Valencia, Classical Source, July 2011

Bizet Carmen / Opera Holland Park
Cond. Matthew Willis, Dir. Jonathan Munby
“… [Willis] brings delicacy and rhythmic pizzazz to Bizet’s score…”
Hugh Canning, The Times, June 2010

“Making his OHP debut was young conductor Matthew Willis whose precision and gleeful energy place him in the Ed Gardner model. Sweeping his orchestra along with him, he even managed to bring a hint of freshness to the overture.”
Alexandra Coghlan, The Oxford Times, June 2010

“Matthew Willis (his OHP debut) brought Bizet’s wonderful score vividly to life – his beat had a bounce, and the orchestra clearly enjoyed playing for him.”
Peter Reed, Classical Source, June 2010

“… [Willis] has flair and his interpretation is spirited…”
George Hall, The Guardian Unlimited, June 2010

Elgar Dream of Gerontius
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
“That, however, was before he wrote the symphonies, the violin concerto or the cello concerto. Myself, I was inoculated against organised religion by a sorry childhood as a choirboy. But there is no doubting the spiritual experience that the Dream produces, and conductor Matthew Willis brought that glow to the work.

Willis not only kept the performance firmly on the rails (so easy for a work with so many performers to just stagnate), but he solved difficult balance problems as he went along.

Matthew WIllis and the Ceramic City Choir should be proud of themselves; this is much more demanding than the average amateur choir work. And the soloists were first class; a performance of Wagnerian proportions from Anne-Marie Owens, a truly passionate one from James Gilchrist, and forthright power from Christopher Purves.”
BBC Stoke and Staffordshire, 2007

Elgar Dream of Gerontius
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Victoria Hall
“In this 150th anniversary year of his birth, the Ceramic City, Keele Bach and Keele Philharmonic Society choirs, soloists and Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Matthew Willis gave a thrilling and uplifting performance of Elgar’s ‘the Dream of Gerontius’ in the Victoria Hall last night.”
The Sentinel Stoke-on-Trent, 2007

Handel Messiah
“After what he achieved with a new look at the Berlioz Requiem at Hanley’s Victoria Hall last March, it was widely expected that Keele Bach Choir’s brilliant young artistic director and conductor Matthew Willis would adopt a similar approach with Handel’s Messiah whenever he got the opportunity.

And so it proved on Saturday (18th December) when Matthew, the Keele Bach Choir, the City of Stoke-on-Trent Chamber Orchestra and four forthright soloists performed the Messiah much more in the manner audiences must have known it in Handel’s day.

Gone were the romantic touches, yet the light vividness of touch and faster tempo resulted in no loss of sublimity.

From the Overture and opening recitative, “Comfort Ye, my people”, it was obvious that we were in for something out of the ordinary. Matthew kept everything under perfect control and entered into the spirit of the thing to such a degree.

The soloists - Tenor Glyn Aubrey, E.N.O Bass Simon Thorpe, Alto Harriet Goodwin and Soprano Karen Radcliffe - were always sound and sometimes inspired.

As sensitive as it was small, the orchestra offered a lively accompaniment. The full blooded choir sang majestically and reached a terrific climax in the Hallelujah Chorus.”
The Sentinel Stoke-on-Trent

Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts
“Hanley's Victoria Hall has hosted many a glorious concert in its long history but it is doubtful whether any of them outshone the performance of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts on Saturday night. This was the sort of occasion that will be talked about for years, even decades to come, so long, in fact, as North Staffordshire in general and the Potteries in particular are capable of boasting that they possess a music loving public.

Never can the venue's renowned acoustics have been so thoroughly tested. Rarely can sheer sound, both tremendous and delicate, have been so evocative and memorable. Willis is clearly a conductor with a bright future and we should make a point of listening to his music as often as we can - the opportunity may not be there for much longer. Of the Berlioz Requiem, as it is known, it need only be said that to hear it in such surroundings is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Few members of the packed audience could have gone home disappointed.

Grande Messe des Morts creates its own world and it is difficult to think of any other musical work that uses space and direction so imaginatively. It is mightily impressive without being over-theatrical and always solemn without any hint of the sanctimonious. Parts of it, like the Dies Irae, with its Tuba mirum (a fortissimo to end all fortissimos), quite literally took the breath away. Others, like the Hostias, a deeply moving meditation that uses astonishingly low trombone notes, had a pathos beyond words.

The only soloist in the work, tenor Mark le Brocq, sang gracefully and thoughtfully in the Sanctus, while the Agnus Dei which ended the requiem had repeated Amens which brought this terrific work to a comforting close."
The Sentinel Stoke-on-Trent

Mendelssohn Elijah
“Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah was brought back to life as surely as the Widow’s son on Saturday night.

After being patronised and dismissed as clumsy, cluttered Victorian fustian for years - even decades - this sublime masterpiece was presented by Keele Bach Choir in a manner befitting the 21st century. And the result was as inspiring as it was exciting.

The choir’s dynamic young conductor, Matthew Willis, had promised as much, and he was true to his word: Elijah came over as brilliant storytelling set in the context marvellous music. There was a fine orchestra, English Pro Musica, and a quartet of exceptional soloists - Denise leigh soprano, Harriet Goodwin alto, Glyn Aubrey tenor and Grant Doyle bass. Additionally there were soloists from the choir, one of whom, Laura Wilson, showed high promise.

The choir as a whole responded with spirit to Matthew’s dynamic conducting, revealing time and again the subtlety and art of Mendelssohn’s music. Choristers and soloists mingled securely as the action unfolded.

It is invidious to pick out highlights in such a performance, but the duet between Doyle and Leigh was infinitely moving, and the contest between Elijah and the Priests of Baal was better than anything in The Lord of the Rings! The packed audience heard music drama at its best.”
The Sentinel Stoke-on-Trent