Matthew Hamilton, Music Director
Matthew Hamilton joined Reading Bach Choir as Music Director in March 2010.
Matthew is greatly in demand with choirs throughout the UK. He read music at Worcester College, Oxford, where he held both Instrumental and Choral Scholarships, before taking a Masters degree in composition at the University of Manchester. He then studied choral conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, where he was awarded a full scholarship for studies with Simon Halsey and Adrian Partington. In addition, he has been fortunate to participate in the Eric Ericson Masterclass with the Netherlands Chamber Choir and Netherlands Radio Choir (2009), the Berlin International Masterclass (2010) with the Berlin Radio Choir, and at Dartington International Summer School. In 2010 he was awarded the Bramstrup Conducting Award (Denmark).
Matthew is director of Reading Bach Choir, Keele Bach Choir and Salford Choral Society. He is very busy as a guest conductor and chorus master; he has worked frequently with the BBC Symphony Chorus in music from Mahler to Peter Eötvös, and with youth choirs including the National Youth Choir and the Hallé Youth Choir. He made his Proms debut this year as chorus master to the BBC Singers in works by Sir Harrison Birtwistle and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and has been invited to work with the Singers again in the autumn. He has worked as chorus master for Rambert Dance Company, and for two years was director of Ad Solem – The University of Manchester Chamber Choir, with whom he broadcast for BBC television and radio. In the world of church music, Matthew is Musical Director of the Royal School of Church Music Voices, and is a former Director of Music at Bury Parish Church.
In addition to his work as a conductor, Matthew sings as a lay-clerk at Manchester Cathedral, and as a member of the BBC Daily Service Singers. He also works as an animateur, delivering singing workshops in primary and secondary schools as part of the national ‘Sing Up!’ programme.
