Welcome to Deal Festival of Music and Arts 2013 - 28th June to 7th July

Matthew Sharp

'Matthew Sharp, virtuoso of the arts.' The Times, September 2012

'Extraordinary cellist, virile baritone, compelling actor - Matthew Sharp's astonishingly comprehensive versatility.' The Daily Telegraph

Matthew Sharp studied cello with Boris Pergamenschikow in Cologne, voice with Ulla Blom in Stockholm and English at Trinity College, Cambridge. He has performed at major venues and festivals worldwide as solo cellist, baritone and actor.

Matthew has appeared as solo performer with the RPO, LPO, RLPO, CBSO, Orchestra of Opera North, EUCO, Manchester Camerata and Ural Philharmonic, performed principal roles for Opera North (Papageno, Pied Piper), ROH2 (Exposure, Pleasure's Progress), Almeida Opera (The Silent Twins) and the Young Vic (Wolf and Hero) and National Theatre Studio, given solo performances at the Glastonbury and Latitude festivals, recorded for Sony, EMI, Naxos and Avie, given over fifty world premieres and appeared in recital as cellist and singer at Wigmore Hall, SBC and Salle Gaveau. As writer, composer and performer, he collaborates regularly with leading artists from film, theatre and dance. His music theatre works have toured to major festivals in Europe, India and the US.

Recent highlights include the London premiere of Whale Music by Matthew and bansuri flautist, Sameer Rao with words by Sir Andrew Motion at the South Bank's Alchemy Festival, a UK tour of the pioneering new concerto work Death's Cabaret - A Love Story by Stephen Deazley and Martin Riley, The Devil's Jukebox for Opera North and the world premiere of Faustus - The Last Bus Home, a one-man opera commissioned especially for Matthew by Sound Festival.

Upcoming highlights include appearances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Opera North, performances at festivals in Sweden, France, Greece, India and across the UK, a Schoenberg disc for Somm and his third programme at the Deal Festival.

Matthew has been a guest lecturer at GSMD, CSSD, Trinity Laban, Dartington College and Leeds and Portsmouth Universities. He has devised and delivered masterclasses and bespoke and pioneering workshops and projects for Juilliard, RWCMD, ENO, Opera North, WNO, ETO, Philharmonia, LPO, Orchestra of the Swan, Theatre de Complicité, Barbican, South Bank Centre, Wigmore Hall, the International Ingenium Academy and CoMA, and in India, Russia and Scandinavia.