Matthew Bruce is an in demand professional violinist, concertmaster, soloist, improviser, & pedagogue, known for passionate live performances and outstanding outcomes for his students. He has worked professionally in the industry for the past three decades, and is trained and experienced in classical, historical, & contemporary violin performance at the highest level.
Matt has been a member of the world-renowned Australian Brandenburg Orchestra since 1992, which he has led as Resident Concertmaster (and subsequently Associate Concertmaster) since 2013, toured with at both national and international levels, and for whom he has featured as soloist on innumerable occasions over the past two decades. This includes appearing on ARIA award-winning recordings like Tapas - Tastes of the Baroque, and collaborating live with artists such as Riccardo Minasi, Lixsania Fernández, Christina Pluhar, and Philippe Jaroussky.
Classically, Matt has worked extensively with the Australian Opera, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hobart and Brisbane Baroque, Sydney Philharmonia and Sydney Chamber Choir as an orchestral player, section leader, and concertmaster.
Additionally, he has a strong background in chamber music, notably as a longstanding member of the East Sydney Ensemble with whom he has performed at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, Canberra Chamber Music Festival, Townsville International Chamber Music Festival, the Académie de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland, and also on regional tours in Australia.
Matt has also cultivated an interest in ‘extra-classical’ violin music due to his experience playing in a jazz band during his younger years. He has featured in groups such as the Australian contemporary electric string quartets 'FourPlay' and 'Coda', on tour as a solo rock violinist for artists Jenny Morris, Daryl Braithwaite and James Reyne, as a free-jazz violinist for ‘The Albert Ayler Project’ and ‘J’Adube’, and for the past decade, as a tango violinist for Sydney groups ‘Fuego Lento’ and ‘La Luna’. In 2018, he performed in a mixed quintet ensemble version of the improvisational work Superimposition at the Vivid Sydney Festival, touring to Croatia for a repeat performance in 2019.
Matt’s early training was with Hiroko Primrose, wife of renowned violist William Primrose. He graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music and Postgraduate Diploma under the tutelage of Janet Davies in 1995, also winning the Student Concerto Competition in the previous year.
Matt also attended the Australian National Academy of Music and the Académie de Musique de Lausanne for further chamber music and solo studies, and was awarded a Big Brother Scholarship and Churchill Fellowship for further studies in Europe, the latter to pursue his interest in historically-informed performance practices. Matt has been blessed to have a variety of exceptional mentors over the years, including David Takeno, Lydia Mordkovitch, Boris Berman, Enrico Gatti, Ryo Terakado, Marc Destrubé, Pierre Amoyal, Riccardo Minasi, Elizabeth Walfisch, Catherine Mackintosh, and Stefano Montanari.
In addition to his performing commitments, Matt has been a dedicated and successful teacher of violin and music principles for over 25 years. He is passionate about presenting music education through real, dynamic, and meaningful contexts. As well as one on one teaching, he presents masterclasses, guest directs training ensembles, and mentors players at every level from elementary to postgraduate and professional students, whether at local elementary and secondary schools, or tertiary institutions such as The Australian Institute of Music and Newcastle Conservatorium of Music.
Matt currently resides in Sydney, Australia.
Biography: Matthew Bruce, 2021
Image Credit: Georges Antoni, 2018
