Background
Matthew Barley was born near Sheffield and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and the Moscow Conservatoire.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Matthew Barley
Edit Profile
Education
Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Career
He is best known for his performances of core classical music, improvisation, and contemporary music including electronics. He made his London concerto debut playing the Shostakovich cello concerto in the Barbican Hall with the London Symphony Orchestra, as finalist of the LSO-Shell competition. His first Civil Defense, in 2003, was The Silver Swan for Black Box was a compilation of pieces for multitracked cellos, all of which he recorded himself using pioneering techniques of layering voices without an electronic click.
His next Civil Defense, Reminding, featured Soviet music for cello and piano, and was released on Quartz in September.
In 1997 Barley founded Between the Notes, a performance and education group who work with music and other arts In 2007, Barley was the music director and presenter of the BBC2 Classical Star series.
Barley has premiered several works including some commissions, by Thomas Larcher, James MacMillan, Dai Fujikura, Detlev Glanert, Peter Wiegold, Fraser Trainer, Rand Steiger, John Metcalfe, John Woolrich, Dimitri Smirnov, and Deidre Gribben. Barley"s non-classical collaborations have included with Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Talvin Singh, Sultan Khan, Nitin Sawhney, Django Bates, and jazz pianists Julian Joseph and Nikki Yeoh.
In 2013 Barley toured the United Kingdom to celebrate the centenary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, performing 100 concerts and workshops throughout the year.
Matthew Barley is married to violinist Viktoria Mullova. They have three children Misha Mullov-Abbado, Katia Mullova-Brind and Nadia Mullova-Barley and live in London. With Viktoria Mullova.
