A very warm welcome to my website. Below you will find my full third person biography for concert/media/promotion
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Matthew Sear (b. 1975)
Matthew Sear is a London born composer and multi instrumentalist noted for compositions for solo instruments and small ensembles.
He has featured in the publications; Classical Guitar, Fanfare, The Jewish Chronicle and Gibson Lifestyle while his compositions have received premier performances at: the Royal Academy of Music, the 1901 Arts Club, St Martin in the Field, Maria Marchant’s ‘7 Notes in 7 Days’, and the Edinburgh, Toronto and Adelaide fringe festivals.
Matthew gave his London guitar debut at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden in 2006 and over the next several years performed extensively at home and abroad, performing at venues including St John Smith’s Square, Canterbury Cathedral, Hertford College (University of Oxford) St Martin In The Field's 'Series For Young Composers’, and international recitals across Spain, Sweden, France and North America.
“The America Suite contained both the bustling New York Metropolis and hints of Southern Bluegrass...exhilarating!”
Melinda Hughes, (Broadwaybaby.com) Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013
A passionate improviser, Matthew has been involved in a variety of creative projects over his career, including ‘the London Contemporary guitar series’ (2014 - 2020), whose philosophy was to promote; classical, jazz and fusion styles in an affordable and intimate setting. During the series, Matthew performed with an array of renowned musicians including; jazz guitarist Howard Alden (who played and scored the music for Woody Allen’s ‘Sweet and lowdown’), gypsy jazz guitarist Tim Robinson, acoustic fusion guitarist, Martin Vishnick and fusion giant, John Etheridge (Soft Machine/John Williams). The experience as well as a learning experience in itself, also shaped Matthew’s compositional style, allowing his music to combine contemporary jazz harmonies with world and traditional classical styles.
Towards the end of 2013, Matthew’s mother became unwell and while he continued to perform and teach, he reduced these activities so he could visit her regularly. Towards the end of her life, he began performing personal recitals to her daily. After his mother passed away and a period of grieving, Matthew reflected on the positive impact music had in a hospital setting and joined the charity ‘Music in hospitals’. Performing from 2015 as a 'hear musician’, over the next five years he gave performances in over 100 sensitive settings including; ICUs, Oncology units and children’s hospices.
With his compositional style becoming increasingly focused on the mixing of unusual instruments, and drawing inspiration from mysticism and the supernatural, Matthew studied the pipe organ under Jonathan Bunny, in order to really understand the textures possible with such a complex instrument. The learning resulted in a series of pieces including ‘Ceremony’ (for organ and amplified classical guitar), and the Tree of Life, the title track of the album of the same name, as well as several preludes.
The temporary cessation of live music in 2020 due to the worldwide lockdowns of 2020 was a difficult period for many in the creative sector, but compositionally speaking a it was very active period for Matthew with the composer producing a variety of new music and being also introduced to Mina Kupfermann, a visual artist also with a passion for ethereal subjects. The duo began work on a large scale project, ‘Seven days’, a music and art collaboration exploring the Seven Days of creation.
Post lockdown
Upon society re opening, Matthew was awarded a fellowship from the Royal Society of the Arts, for his work in composition and performance, joining the BBC’s Anna Cookson on her show ‘The Wake Up Call’, to discuss ‘Creations in Lockdown’, an album exploring themes of mortality, life after death and issues of liberty, during recent events.
Colin Clarke, from the classical music journal ‘Fanfare’ writing …
“Four stars. A most imaginative release, and a poignant reaction to past and continuing world events”
His follow up album ‘the Tree of Life’ drawing on his spiritual connection to Kabbalah, and using instruments such as the didgeridoo, pipe organ, oud, strings and electric guitar, was released later in 2022.
Eric Strangeland, from the podcast ‘Mixtapes’ remarking…
“Really interesting music with strong melodies.”
2025 and onwarrds
Between 2023 and 2024 Matthew released ‘the Nova suite’ (cello duet) and completed two large scale commissions; writing ‘Amigos’ for a 200 plus massed choir (for Bexley music), and writing the soundtrack for the Darcy Weir UFO documentary ‘Transmedium’.
Currently Matthew is working on several new commissions, including ‘Pieces for Pets’, for concert pianist Lydia Melleck, setting music to the biblical Psalms (collaborating with singer Daisy Jones), and his latest release ‘Doorways’, an album featuring music for string orchestra, brass quartet, piano and classical guitar.
A proud independent artist, Matthew’s music has so far received over half a million streams on the streaming platform Spotify and played across 110 countries.
October 2024
