About Me

Although New Zealand remains the place of birth and childhood to him, Matthias is a well traveled cellist, and a frequent conspirator of musical shenanigans since the spritely age of three. After over two decades of assimilating the four-stringed beast, his passion for the cello has only grown, and his odyssey to bring what approximates the sound of music to the stage, ever prolonged. His relationship to music was a natural affair, growing up in a household with six bundles of musical talent older than he, and with of course the two remarkable facilitators of it all. The nine of them together played and toured the globe, entertaining the worlds of Folk, Celtic and beyond, before separately pursuing varying paths of profession and livelihood.

Sally-Anne Brown was the first of the legends to ignite the wick and guide him through the madness of the classical music world. Next came James Tennant, the fierce and fluffy, who never settled for good, rather pushed the boundaries beyond their limits. It was with him that Matthias graduated at the University of Waikato with his Bachelor degree at the age of seventeen. World renowned Pieter Wispelwey, the untameable, is the current culprit for feeding the fire, as Matthias continues his studies at the Robert Schumann Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf.

Matthias can be found on stage throughout Europe, United Kingdom, China, New Zealand, Australia, and more, and is a seasoned performer as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing a large repertoire including several contemporary works commissioned for him. He is also the newly appointed cellist of the NZTrio, alongside superstars Amalia Hall and Somi Kim. 

Matthias has been very blessed over the years with competition prizes, scholarships and supporting foundations to boost his ambitions. He received numerous first and second prizes in major competitions, both national and international, including the Schoenfeld International Cello Competition, Accordi Musicali International Competition, ROSL Annual Music Competition Strings Competition, in London; ROSL Chamber Music Scholarship Competition, in New Zealand; Winner of the New Zealand National Concerto Competition, twice; Winner of Sieghardt-Rometsch Instrumental Competition; Winner of NZ’s “Creative Performing Arts Person of the Year” award; Winner of the International Wallace Cello Competition; Winner of PACANZ and awarded NZ Arts Person of the Year; Winner of the National Te Awamutu Chamber Competition; Winner of the National Secondary Schools Chamber Competition; and second prize winner of the Gisborne International Music Competition. He was the recipient of the Sir Edmund Hilary Gold Medal Award, Jack McGill Music Scholarship, Full Scholarship to the Aspen Music Festival, NZ Aimes Award, and more. A special mention to the Deane Endowment Trust for their continuous support to him throughout the last few years.

Furthermore he has taken part in masterclasses with Daniel Müller-Schott, Johannes Moser, Wen Sinn Yang, Wolfgang Schmidt, Richard Aaron, Li Wei Qin, Philippe Muller, David Dolan, Jo Cole, Louise Hopkins, Renna Kellaway, Robert Cohen, Gould Piano Trio, and more.

Soloist appearances with orchestras include the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Harbin Symphony Orchestra Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, St. Matthews Chamber Orchestra, Auckland Chamber Orchestra, NZ National Youth Orchestra, Wellington Youth Orchestra, Robert Schumann Hochschule Orchestra, Opus Orchestra, NZ Secondary Schools Orchestra, Waikato University Orchestra, Scotch College School Orchestra and more.

Matthias is regularly featured on national radio in New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Italy. 

His weapon of choice is a Reiner Beilharz 2014 Cello, accompanied by a Klaus Grünke bow.