Charles Matthews

Charles Matthews studied at the Royal College of Music and as an organ scholar at Trinity College, Cambridge. His teachers have included Beryl Tichbon, Gwilym Isaac, David Pettit, Patricia Carroll, Nicholas Danby, Charles Spinks and Dr Richard Marlow.

Charles pursues a varied career as organist, pianist, teacher and conductor. He has given first performances of works by Francis Routh and Marcus Davidson and has won numerous awards, perhaps most notably the first prize in the 1999 Franz Liszt Memorial Competition in Budapest and First Prize in the 2001 Cesar Franck Competition, Haarlem. He works as a chamber music and contemporary music coach on the annual Matisse Music Course, El Escorial, Spain.

He has broadcast solo organ works on BBC Radio 3 and piano works on Spanish television. His recordings have been issued by Redcliffe, Priory, Olympia, Guild, Touch, Priory and Fundación Autor, Spain. He has also composed a collection of pieces for flute and piano, recently published by Schott.

Major Recordings

• 2010: 24 Preludes for Piano by Francis Routh
• 2008: Spire Live - Fundamentalis
  A 2 LP (only) set of live tracks recorded at Spire events in 2005 and 2006: Charles plays Giacinto Scelsi's mesmeric In Nomine Lucis, recorded at a concert in Brussels Cathedral in May 2006 (with other performances by Marcus Davidson, B J Nilsen, Philip Jeck and Christian Fennesz) [Touch: Tone 28 - available from TouchShop]
• 2005: Spire Live in Geneva Cathedral St Pierre
  A 2 CD set of the first concert of the Spire organ and electronics project: Charles plays four organ solo pieces by Marcus Davidson, André Jolivet and Liana Alexandra (with other performances by Marcus Davidson, B J Nilsen, Philip Jeck and Christian Fennesz) [Touch: Tone 21 - available from TouchShop]
• 2003: Oratio: 20th Century Sacred Music from Spain & Latin America
  17 pieces of 20th century Spanish organ music and choral works, sung by Coro Cervantes, under the direction of Carlos Fernández Aransay [Guild: GMCD 7266 - available from GuildMusic Shop]
• 2001: Great European Organs, No 65
  Organ music by André Jolivet, Darius Milhaud and other French composers, played on the Cavaillé-Coll organ of La Madeleine, Paris [Priory: PRCD 772 - available from Priory Records and TouchShop]
• 1994: Arnold Bax: Viola and Piano Music
  Works for piano solo and for viola and piano (with Richard Crabtree) [Olympia: OCD 454 - now deleted, but may be available through Amazon]