Keele, Staffordshire
Artistic Director
Matthew Willis has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Keele Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, the Keele Bach Choir and the Corda Group, the Sirius Chamber Orchestra and Choir, the Ayton Castle Festival, the Charing Cross Chamber Choir and the Lawyers’ Symphony Orchestra. He has held guest conductor and assistant positions across Europe including an ongoing partnership with Maestro Sebastian Weigle in Barcelona, Frankfurt and Bayreuth.
He has conducted the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Orquestra Simfonica del Gran Teatre del Liceu, the Orquestra de Cadaques, the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, English Pro Musica, the Northern Chamber Orchestra, Redhill Sinfonia, the Trinity College of Music Opera Company and the Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra, etc. He has worked alongside soloists such as James Gilchrist, John Treleaven, Christopher Purves, Denise Leigh, James Rutherford, Grant Doyle, Helena Dix, Scott Hendricks, Ivan Balaguer Zarzo, Katie van Kooten and Kai Gleusteen.
Matthew has performed in many leading concert venues including the Royal Albert Hall, the Barbican, St. John’s, Smith Square and the Wigmore Hall, and has been privileged to work with some of the world’s leading musicians.
Acclaimed for his innovative programming and scholarly approach to making music, recent reviews have proclaimed “...something out of the ordinary”, “...simply a triumph on every level”, “the result was as inspiring as it was exciting” and “the packed audience heard music drama at it’s best”.
