Matthew Barley

"I wish more people would think about music the way Matthew Barley does" The Times

"one of classical music's leading mould-breakers." The Independent

Cello playing is at the centre of Matthew Barley's career, while his musical world has virtually no geographical, social or stylistic boundaries.

Music Director of BBC TV's Classical Star programme, aired on BBC2 in the UK, Matthew Barley is passionate about education, improvisation, cross-disciplinary projects, composition, and pioneering community programmes. He is also a world renowned cellist, who has performed concertos with orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, London Sinfonietta, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, RSNO, Czech Philharmonic, RLPO and New Zealand Symphony, to name but a few.

Matthew Barley's non-classical collaborations include Django Bates, Julian Joseph, Davud Azad, DJ Bee, Talvin Singh, Temple of Sound and Ross Daly, appearing in venues ranging from Ronnie Scotts to the South Bank Centre.

Recent concert highlights include projects with the Nederlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, The Metropole Jazz Orchestra and a return trip to the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and a major new project with his wife, Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova.

Matthew’s first disc on the Signum label, The Dance of The Three Legged Elephants, came out to critical success in 2009 (five stars for performance in BBC Music Magazine), and has just been followed by the release of Constant Filter, music for cello and electronics by John Metcalfe. The disc was recorded at home, with Matthew undertaking all the engineering, editing, and computer processing himself.

Matthew's website is full of information about his various activities and projects: www.matthewbarley.com