Andrew Matthews-Owen is a Welshpianist and accompanist. He was born at Neath, Wales and now lives in London He enjoys a busy career partnering some of the UK's leading singers, on the concert platform, on record and as a performance and vocal coach. Concert engagements have taken him to major venues around the UK and abroad, most notably the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Kings Place, Warehouse, Birmingham Symphony Hall, St David's Hall, National Portrait Gallery and on the Cutting Edge Tour, with artists including Patricia Bardon, Susan Bickley, Claire Booth, Anne-Sophie Duprels, Helen Field, John MacMaster Gail Pearson, Natalya Romaniw, Nicky Spence, Katie Van Kooten, Sir Willard White, French horn playerRichard Watkins percussionist Joby Burgess and the Brodowski and Allegri string quartets. He has also appeared in words and music revues, with actors and personalities including Alexander Armstrong, Katie Derham and in numerous performances of A Celebration of Jane Austen with actors Robert Powell, Elizabeth Garvie and flautist Clive Conway. Andrew has broadcast live on numerous occasions for BBC Television and BBC Radio 3, most recently from the Purcell Room, Southbank Centre. Andrew is fast developing a reputation in contemporary music, regularly giving premieres of scores by eminent composers including Michael Berkeley, Charlotte Bray, Philip Cashian, Laurence Crane, Jonathan Dove, Alun Hoddinott, Simon Holt and Arlene Sierra. Releases of CDs for major labels Naxos and NMC have garnered considerable critical acclaim. Recent discs of song cycles by Jonathan Dove, Alun Hoddinott and Charlotte Bray have been 'Editor's Choice', 'Disc of the Year' and 'Recommended Recording of the Month' in Gramophone magazine, and included in the Times newspaper 'Best CDs of 2014'. Andrew's debut solo CD for Nimbus of premiere recordings of piano music by composers Joseph Phibbs, Hannah Kendall and the Grammy-nominated Dobrinka Tabakova will be released in November 2017. Andrew studied at Cardiff University as an undergraduate, before winning a scholarship place as a postgraduate at the Royal Academy of Music generously supported by the RAM Trust, S4C Wales Television, Sir Edward Heath, Coutt's Bank and the Rayne Foundation. He has also studied privately with Christine Croshaw, Roger Vignoles, Michael Pollock and Eugene Asti. Andrew's own passionate interest in music education is focused through his work at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London, where he is currently Lead Tutor and Head of Piano and teaches piano and performance classes. He has also given master classes and workshops at the Royal College of Music, and the universities of Cardiff and Hull. Competition successes include the coveted Sir Henry Richardson Award for Accompanists, John Ireland Trust Prize, Elisabeth Schumann Lieder Prize and the Ryan Davies Memorial Award. In 2011, Andrew was awarded the inaugural T.Glanville Jones/Leo Abse and Cohen Award by the Welsh Music Guild for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Welsh Music.’ Andrew was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in May 2012.
