Matthew Kam | Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Photo by Soon Swee Koon

Matthew Kam was born in Borneo, Malaysia in 1981. He moved with his family to Melbourne where he began his high school education in 1994. A graduate of Melbourne University, Matthew performed Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra. After winning the Australian National Piano Award and numerous other significant prizes, as well as generous sponsorship from the John Tallis Foundation, he moved to England for further training at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he completed a Masters and Postgraduate Diploma, followed by a two-year Junior Fellowship in Solo Piano in 2009. He studied with Max Cooke, Helen Krizos and Nelson Goerner. Matthew’s performances of Rautavaara’s First Piano Concerto with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra for the RNCM and Lancaster International Concert Series won praise from the composer himself, who later wrote to say: “Your rendering of the concerto is perfect. Your playing is full of drama and also with great lyrical expressiveness.” He gave his debut solo recital at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, and has also performed as a chamber musician at the St Martin in the Fields and Wigmore Hall in London. To date, Matthew has performed in numerous solo and chamber music recitals for various music societies and festivals throughout the UK.

Matthew made his debut with the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and conductor Kevin Field performing Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto at the world-renowned Petronas Twin Towers Concert Hall in Kuala Lumpur. In 2012, he performed Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto with the Stockport Symphony Orchestra and conductor Bob Chasey. As a result of a successful performance, he was re-invited back to play Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in 2013. In the past, Matthew performed as a guest artist in the HSBC International Classic Piano Festival 2008 in Malaysia, and in concerts together with the Team of Pianists, touring Western Europe in 2002 and 2003. He has also performed in Singapore, Taiwan and at the Tanglewood Festival in the USA.

An avid chamber musician, Matthew performs regularly with violinist Jonathan Martindale and other esteemed colleagues working for the Hallé and BBC Philharmonic Orchestras in Manchester, where he is now based. Jonathan and Matthew performed in a series of recitals in Australia and a radio broadcast recording for ABC Classic FM in 2011. Matthew is also now involved in piano trio performance projects with the Irwell Trio, with members comprising violinist Dewi Tudor Jones and cellist Doug Badger. Highlights of interesting past performances in chamber music include Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, Ruders’ De Profundis for two pianos and percussion, and, together with the former Estrella Piano Trio, a London premiere of John Casken’s Piano Trio.

On recordings, Matthew can be heard playing masterpieces by Brahms, Fauré and Rautavaara on the Schimmel Artists Collection CD [MCD346]. He has also recorded a part of the film soundtrack to “Of Time and the City”, Terence Davies’ homage to Liverpool, which is now available on DVD worldwide. Matthew has broadcast on ABC Classic FM (Australia), MBS FM Network (Australia), and BBC Radio 3 (UK).

In competitions, Matthew was awarded, apart from First Prize in the Australian National Piano Award 2004, the Special Prize ‘Best Performance of Music Written after 1950’ specifically for his performance of Rautavaara’s “Fire Sermon” Piano Sonata. Other significant prizes won in Australia include the Hepzibah Menuhin Memorial Award, Margaret Sutherland Bursary, 3MBS-FM Young Performer of the Year Award and National MBS Young Performers Award. He was the highest prizewinner of the Malaysian National Piano Festival 2000 and the first Yamaha Piano Scholarship recipient for Manchester in 2006. An RNCM Gold Medal Finalist 2007, Matthew was awarded numerous college prizes and bursaries during his further studies in England.