Matthew Kaner

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Matthew Kaner (born 1986) is a composer based in London whose works are performed and broadcast widely in the UK and abroad. Described as “deftly able to draw the listener into his far-reaching imaginative world” (BBC Music Magazine 2023), he has been praised for his “orchestral imagination and poetic word-setting” (Bachtrack 2022) and his music’s “ultra-perceptive imagery, textural delicacy and illuminating precision” (the Scotsman 2022).

Matthew’s 2022 BBC Proms commission, Pearl, for the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Chorus and baritone Roderick Williams, setting medieval poetry in modern translation by Simon Armitage, was reviewed as “spine-tingling… sparking electricity” (Guardian) and “a fascinating response to this transcendental text” (Bachtrack). His debut solo album, featuring his chamber works in performances by Guy Johnston, Mark Simpson, Benjamin Baker, Daniel Lebhardt and the Goldfield Ensemble, was released by Delphian Records in November 2022 to critical acclaim. In 2016, Matthew was selected to be the BBC Radio 3 Embedded Composer for the duration of the station’s 70th anniversary celebrations (in association with Sound and Music), during which he wrote 14 works for repeated broadcasts, for performers including Quatuor van Kuijk, the BBC Singers, Guy Johnston, Mark Simpson, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Trio Isimsiz and many others.

Among his upcoming projects is a new concerto for violinist Benjamin Baker (co-commissioned by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Amarillo Symphony), premiering in 2024. Previous highlights include commissions from the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Siglo de Oro and King’s College London Chapel Choir.

Matthew has been a Professor of Composition at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama since 2013. In 2015, he was the recipient of a Roche Young Composers’ commission for the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra. He was a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society Composition Prize in 2013; he was the Margaret Lee Crofts Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood in 2012. He studied music at King’s College London and composition with Julian Anderson and Richard Baker at the Guildhall, and has been mentored by composers including Oliver Knussen, Wolfgang Rihm, Unsuk Chin, Colin Matthews and John Harbison. He is represented worldwide by Blom Music Management.

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Ordered by year. Most recent works appears first

Chamber Ensemble (5 - 9 instruments)


At Night for Clarinet Quintet (2021)
Collide for mixed ensemble (2016)
Organum for ensemble (2013)
Gauguin Sketches for ensemble (2011)
Octet for ensemble (2009)

Chamber Group ( 2 - 4 instruments )


Piano Trio Piano Trio in three movements (i. Glints in the Water ii. Ripples iii. Eroding Lines) (2021)
Concerto for Four Baroque Violins For 4 baroque violins (2016)
In Search of the Dimmest Stars for string quartet (2016)
Snowbells for violin and piano (2016)
Chants for flute, violin, viola and violoncello (2013)
Calligraphic Study after Johann Hering (2012)

Solo Instrument


Suite for Cello (2020)
Siciliene for violoncello solo (2016)
The Red Crowned Crane for basset clarinet (2016)
Dance Suite for piano solo (2015)
Litanies for piano solo (2007)

Instrumental Music


At Night for Clarinet Quintet (2021)
Piano Trio Piano Trio in three movements (i. Glints in the Water ii. Ripples iii. Eroding Lines) (2021)
Suite for Cello (2020)
Five Highland Scenes for violin and piano (2019)
Stranded for violin and orchestra (2017)
In Search of the Dimmest Stars for string quartet (2016)
The Red Crowned Crane for basset clarinet (2016)
Snowbells for violin and piano (2016)
Siciliene for violoncello solo (2016)
Concerto for Four Baroque Violins For 4 baroque violins (2016)
Collide for mixed ensemble (2016)
Dance Suite for piano solo (2015)
Mosaic for ensemble (2014)
The Calligrapher's Manuscript for orchestra (2013)
Organum for ensemble (2013)
Chants for flute, violin, viola and violoncello (2013)
Calligraphic Study after Johann Hering (2012)
Fantastical Fragments for ensemble (2012)
Litanies for piano solo (2007)

Symphony Orchestra


Encounters for large orchestra (2017)
The Calligrapher's Manuscript for orchestra (2013)

Concerto


Stranded for violin and orchestra (2017)

Voices and Instruments


Contemplations for bass-baritone and viola (2016)

Choral Ensemble


Reframe for choir: SSAATTBB (2016)
Duo Seraphim for triple choir (2015)

String Quartet


In Search of the Dimmest Stars for string quartet (2016)

Ensemble (10 - 19 instruments)


Mosaic for ensemble (2014)
Fantastical Fragments for ensemble (2012)

Instruments and Electronics


Gauguin Sketches for ensemble (2011)
Octet for ensemble (2009)
At Night for Clarinet Quintet (2021)
Calligraphic Study after Johann Hering (2012)
Chants for flute, violin, viola and violoncello (2013)
Collide for mixed ensemble (2016)
Concerto for Four Baroque Violins For 4 baroque violins (2016)
Contemplations for bass-baritone and viola (2016)
Dance Suite for piano solo (2015)
Duo Seraphim for triple choir (2015)
Encounters for large orchestra (2017)
Fantastical Fragments for ensemble (2012)
Five Highland Scenes for violin and piano (2019)
Gauguin Sketches for ensemble (2011)
In Search of the Dimmest Stars for string quartet (2016)
Litanies for piano solo (2007)
Mosaic for ensemble (2014)
Octet for ensemble (2009)
Organum for ensemble (2013)
Piano Trio Piano Trio in three movements (i. Glints in the Water ii. Ripples iii. Eroding Lines) (2021)
Reframe for choir: SSAATTBB (2016)
Siciliene for violoncello solo (2016)
Snowbells for violin and piano (2016)
Stranded for violin and orchestra (2017)
Suite for Cello (2020)
The Calligrapher's Manuscript for orchestra (2013)
The Red Crowned Crane for basset clarinet (2016)