matt andrews
PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR
Matt Andrews is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where he studied composition with Professor Robert Saxton, piano, and conducting technique with Alan Hazeldine. He received further tuition with composer Simon Bainbridge and conductors Christopher Adey and Peter Stark. In demand as an orchestral trainer, Matt has been a visiting conductor to the Guildhall School of Music (Junior Dept.), Wells Cathedral School Symphony Orchestra and in 2016 was appointed Musical Director of Essex Young People’s Orchestra. His debut with Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra in 2010 performing Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony led to Matt’s immediate appointment as Principal Conductor. In celebration of their 175th anniversary, Matt conducted a special performance of Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand in front of a two thousand-strong audience at the 2016 Norfolk & Norwich Festival. Matt is delighted to have been appointed Principal Conductor of Sinfonia Tamesa from 2019. He is also Principal Conductor of both the Sudbury and Southend Symphony Orchestras, and a regular guest conductor with the Academy of St Thomas.
Matt has been de facto Artistic Director of the McKinsey Music Festival at the Alpine University in Kitzbühel since its inception fourteen years ago. Sought after for leading complex musical projects, Matt gave the première of Neil Yates’s Surroundings for antiphonal Big Band (Manchester Jazz Festival). Matt is also an award-winning consultant in the creative industries. He has managed more than sixty projects in education, broadcasting and the performing arts, and in 2003 received an award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. He has worked with the BBC, Danish Business Council, University of Liverpool, Creative Partnerships and Performing Arts Labs. Matt’s company Creative Imperative also manages international music festivals for its client McKinsey & Company.