Matthew is a composer from Australia who is currently based in London where he co-directs the new music ensemble Plus Minus and teaches Experimental Music at the Royal College of Music. He has composed works for groups such as Champ D’Action, Ensemble Offspring, EXAUDI, Nieuw Ensemble, Quatuor Diotima, and the Ricciotti Ensemble. You can listen to more of his music at www.shlom.com.In our conversation we talk about New Music’s emphasis on the multiple listening experience, his use of popular music as a social critique, and his work with Plus Minus. The music played in this interview is from a series of pieces called Popular Contexts. The outro music is titled Hi hat and Me.

podcast 38-Ashley Fure

Composer Conversations is an outlet where composers can discuss their experiences living and working in the contemporary music world, the effect it has on their approach to music making, and hopefully in the process break down some of the mythology about what a composer is.

  In short it is a weekly interview series that focuses on the politics and daily life of the international new music scene from the point of view of the people living in it, alongside the music that the featured composer has written. These long form conversations often drift into other regions of the composer’s life outside of aesthetics and are meant to be informal, accessible, personal in nature, and above all candid.