ABOUT
Matthew Grouse (b.1996) is a composer from the UK, currently living in Aarhus (DK), who regularly combines music for instruments and voices with electronic sound, text, video and performative media. His work is often concerned with human frailties and reframing the seemingly mundane aspects of everyday life. In 2018, Matthew was awarded the Dorico Award for Small/Medium Scale Work at the Scottish Awards for New Music.
Recent activities include selection for Yaron Deutsch's Electric Guitar Etude Project and the Chamber Sessions Project at the 2018 Darmstädter Ferienkurse (participation generously supported by Help Musicians UK's Transmission Fund Award). In 2018, Matthew was Composer-in-Residence with Nevis Ensemble, who commissioned a new orchestral piece for their inaugural tour of Scotland. In the same year his first electroacoustic EP Palettes was released on the New York based label, Not Art Records.
His music has been performed or workshopped by artists including: Royal Northern Sinfonia; Hebrides Ensemble; Red Note Ensemble; Nevis Ensemble; The Hermes Experiment; The Assembly Project; Ligeti Quartet; DeCoda Ensemble; Gildas Quartet; Rolf Hind and Andrew Zolinsky (piano duo); trumpeter Tom Poulson (Stockholm Chamber Brass); bassoonist Ben Hudson (Psappha Ensemble); and clarinettist Fernando Domínguez.
He has had work showcased at festivals including: Darmstadt (DE); Matera Intermedia (IT); St Magnus International Festival (UK); The Cumnock Tryst (UK); Occupy the Pianos (UK); Visiones Sonoras (MX); EviMus (DE); Sound-Image (UK), and at venues such as Newcastle's Sage Gateshead; Edinburgh's Usher Hall; London's St John's, Smith Square; and Mexico City's Ex Teresa Arte Actual.
Projects / commissions for 2019/20 include pieces for The Hermes Experiment (a 'The Night With' commission); Hebrides Ensemble @ The Edinburgh International Book Festival; trumpeter Tom Poulson; and a large-scale audiovisual collaboration with Andy Sowerby, presented by Cryptic.
Awards include the 2017 Kimie Composition Prize, which resulted in Live Music Now commissioning 10 Polaroids, a string trio for inclusive audiences, supported by the Kimie Trust; the 2016 Walter and Dinah Wolfe Memorial Award for his trio Mortise, adjudicated by Sir James MacMillan, and honorary mentions in the XI Destellos International Competition and the RMN International Composition Competition.
Matthew is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he studied composition with David Fennessy, electroacoustic composition with Dr Alistair MacDonald and jazz guitar with Kevin Mackenzie. He is currently studying in Aarhus (Denmark) with Niels Rønsholdt, Juliana Hodkinson and Simon Steen-Andersen at the Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus (Det Jyske Musikkonservatorium).
Photography by @jadefrancesphoto