Charles Matthews pursues a varied career as pianist, organist, composer and teacher, performing and broadcasting for radio and television within the UK and internationally. He has studied at the Royal College of Music, London and at Trinity College, under the instruction of teachers such as Beryl Tichbon, Gwilym Isaac, David Pettit, Patricia Carroll, Nicholas Danby, Charles Spinks and Dr Richard Marlow. Matthews has won numerous awards, perhaps most notably the first prize in the 1999 Franz Liszt Memorial Competition in Budapest. His recordings have been issued by Olympia, Priory, Guild and Touch, and a collection of his compositions for flute and piano was published in 2006 by Schott. He is also keen to preserve the custom of holding concerts in private homes. 
 
Working regularly as conductor, composer and teacher, Matthews is currently the organist for St Catharine's Church in Gloucestershire, continues to work extensively with children, holds a position as an organ tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire and is a contemporary music coach for the annual Curso Internacional Matisse at San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain. 
In avant-garde circles Matthews is perhaps most widely known for his work as the organist for the Touch project Spire, which also includes Christian Fennesz and Philip Jeck. This particular trio also worked together on the critically-acclaimed 2008 Touch release "Amoroso", a homage to mystic minimalism’s founding father Avro Pärt which saw Fennesz and Jeck rework organ performances by Matthews. Matthews has also collaborated with Touch label-mate Hildur Gudnadottir.
 
› charlesmatthews.co.uk
 
 
Appearances:
› CTM.12 › TOUCH.30: SPIRE