Matthew Watts

musical director, tenor,
singing & piano teacher

Matthew Watts, musical director of the London Classical Choir and Orchestra, and professional London Classical Singers quartet, was the winner of the Ricordi Conducting Prize. His work has received fine reviews in the national press: "Performance standards were high" (Opera Today), "The chorus delivered their contribution with intensity and conviction" (The Independent). Choirs that he has conducted include the Glasgow University Chamber Choir, the Camden Chamber Choir, the professional Choir of Ealing Abbey, the Reading Festival Chorus and the Royal Tunbridge Wells Choral Society. He conducted the European première of Quest by George Crumb and was the Chorus Master for the British staged première of Goldschmidt's opera Beatrice Cenci at the Spitalfields Festival and the Concert for Europe’s performance of Beethoven 9 at St John’s, Smith Square. He has appeared on BBC Radio London, run choral workshops as far afield as Nepal and started the most remote choir in the world on Rapanui (Easter Island) in the Pacific!

Matthew was described in the Hampstead and Highgate Express as the "Gareth Malone of Primrose Hill", after founding the Primrose Hill Choir and Primrose Hill Children's Choir. The choirs have performed at the Camden Town Hall and South Bank Centre, in Trafalgar Square, and live on BBC Radio London.

Matthew studied at Glasgow University and Trinity College of Music, London, and went on to study conducting with Cathal Garvey and Denise Ham from the Royal Academy of Music and singing with Lyndon Van Der Pump from the Royal College.  He was a Tenor Choral Scholar in Glasgow University Chapel Choir and at St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, and has sung with some of the finest professional church choirs in the capital (audio here). Outside work he enjoys photography, writing blogs, football, languages, Lindy hop dancing and travelling the world.