Matthew Best

Since leaving Cambridge where he was a Choral Scholar at King's College, Matthew Best has pursued a dual career as singer and conductor. He founded Corydon Singers when he was only sixteen and has been its Musical Director ever since. For the past ten years he has enjoyed a very fruitful association with Hyperion Records, resulting in many highly regarded recordings of 19th- and 20th-century music. These have included the Requiems of Fauré and Duruflé, the Rachmaninov Vespers and Liturgy of St John Crisostom, Britten's St Nicolas and several recordings of music by Bruckner and Vaughan Williams. His Bruckner series (which includes the three Masses, Psalms 112, 114 and 150, the Requiem, Motets and the Te Deum) was completed in 1993 in time for the 21st Anniversary season of Corydon Singers. His recording of the Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music was voted 1990 Choral Record of the Year in both The Guardian and The Sunday Times, and several of his other recordings are now the established recommended versions. Since 1985 Matthew Best has enjoyed a close association with the English Chamber Orchestra, directing them in several recordings with Corydon Singers and in concert appearances including the South Bank and St John's, Smith Square. He has also worked as a guest conductor with the City of London Sinfonia and with the BBC Singers, and last year embarked on a new association with the London Mozart Players. In 1991 he founded Corydon Orchestra and has since directed them in a number of programmes at St John's, Smith Square. Other recent conducting engagements include appearances with Corydon Singers at the Three Choirs, Salisbury and City of London Festivals, and at the Fribourg Festival of Sacred Music. Matthew Best also enjoys a successful career as a singer, appearing regularly on the concert platform throughout Europe, working with many of the world's leading conductors and orchestras. Between 1980 and 1986 he was a principal bass with the Royal Opera; he is also a regular guest artist with Opera North, Welsh National Opera and Netherlands Opera, and has sung with Glyndebourne Touring Opera and at the Alte Oper, Frankfurt. Recent singing engagements have included appearances at the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and at the Proms.