Matthew Hindson (b. 1968) studied composition at the University of Sydney and at the University of Melbourne with composers including Peter Sculthorpe, Eric Gross, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards.
Hindson's works have been performed by ensembles and orchestras throughout his native Australia, including most of its professional symphony orchestras and chamber groups. Overseas, his compositions have been presented in New Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, the UK, Holland, Portugal, the USA, Japan, Malaysia, Canada and Thailand, and have been featured at such key events as the 1994 and 2000 Gaudeamus Music Weeks in Amsterdam, the 1997 ISCM Festival in Copenhagen and the 1998 Paris Composers Rostrum.
His music often displays influences of popular music styles within a classical music context, and, as a result, musical elements such as driving repeated rhythms and loud dynamic levels are typically found in his works. Indeed, directness and immediacy are common features in the much of his music.
In 1999 Matthew was the attached composer to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. Works written during this attachment include Boom-Box and In Memoriam: Amplified Cello Concerto (the latter was subsequently nominated for an APRA-AMC award for Best Orchestral Work of 2001). He was also the attached composer with the Sydney Youth Orchestra in the same year, for whom he was commissioned to write a violin concerto. In 2002 he was the featured composer with Musica Viva Australia for whom he has written a number of new commissions for Kristjan Järvi's Absolute Ensemble, baroque violinist Andrew Manze, the Australian Virtuosi, Diana Doherty and the Belcea String Quartet, and Duo Sol.
In May 2002, the Sydney Dance Company toured Australia to much acclaim with a new 90-minute production, Ellipse, choreographed by their Artistic Director, Graeme Murphy, and danced entirely to Hindson's music. Playing to packed houses it broke box-office records for the SDC. They toured it to the USA in 2004.
In September 2003, Matthew was a featured composer at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales, during which fourteen of his works were performed by a variety of ensembles. He was the attached composer to The Queensland Orchestra in 2003/2004, one result of which was his Percussion Concerto, written for Evelyn Glennie and premiered in Brisbane in 2006. In addition, his music was set to a full-evening dance presentation by Ballett Schindowski in Germany, in January 2004.
Other recent compositions include two works for The Orchestras of Australia Network. Future works include a flute concerto entitled House Music for American flautist, Marina Piccinini to be premiered with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in December 2006, and a piano trio for the Macquarie Trio. Matthew's music is published by Faber Music Ltd (UK). A disc of three of his orchestral pieces has been recorded by Trust Records with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for future release.
As well as working as a composer, Matthew lectures in the Arts Music Unit of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. He has recently co-authored a book entitled Music Composition Toolbox, published by Science Press. Matthew is the artistic director of the Aurora Festival, a new festival of contemporary music based in Westen Sydney which premiered in April 2006.
