Education

In addition to his work on the concert platform, Matthew Schellhorn is a passionate educator and communicator, giving regular masterclasses and workshops in the UK and abroad.
He has visited many university music departments and conservatoires to talk about his work in a wide range of performance contexts, including performance practice, commissioning and interpreting new works, working with today’s composers and bringing out fresh ideas in the interpretation of well known repertoire.

His work in academia has included giving lecture recitals and teaching subjects including 20th- and 21st-century music, and he currently serves on the International Advisory Board of Naxos Musicology International.

His research interests include the distinctive features of the composer–pianist relationship, which he pursues at the Royal Academy of Music, London.

He is a member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Cambridge.

Matthew maintains a private teaching practice in London and the South East of England.

He is an Associate of the Royal College of Music, and a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music.

In addition to traditional in-person lessons, he offers online tuition with sessions including one-to-one instrumental lessons, musicianship, theory of music and career advice.

Please go to the Contact page to get in touch and discuss your needs.

Selected educational projects

  • Workshops, masterclasses and coaching
    • Royal Academy of Music, London, UK (2710/2023)
    • University of York, York, UK (14/03/2023)
    • Junior King’s School, Canterbury, UK (17/11/2022)
    • Girton College, Cambridge, UK (07/06/2022)
    • Myatt Garden Primary School, Lewisham (with Ailish Tynan; 31/03/2022)
    • Barnes Music Festival Composer Competition (with Martin Bussey and Edwin Roxburgh; 07/03/2022)
    • Myatt Garden Primary School, Lewisham (29/01/2021)
    • Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK (15/03/2018)
    • University of Cambridge, UK (02/2018)
    • University of Aberdeen (with Diana Burrell; 26/10/2017)
    • Goldsmiths, University of London, UK (15/02/2014)
    • University of Cambridge, UK (11/2012)
    • Bath Spa University, UK (30/02/2012)
    • Walled City Music Festival / University of Ulster, Derry, Northern Ireland (08/2012)
    • Dublin Institute of Technology (18/11/2011)
    • Forest School, Essex (09/2011)
    • Sounds New Festival, Canterbury (05/2010)
    • Trinity College of Music, Greenwich (04/2008)
    • Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, UK (23/01/2008)
    • Junior Guildhall, London (02/2007)
    • Bedford School and local schools (with Tim Watts; 06/2006)
    • Worcestershire County Council and local schools (2001)
  • Lecture recitals and presentations
    • University of York, York, UK: ‘Distinctive Features of the Composer–Pianist Relationship’ (14/03/2023)
    • Royal Academy of Music, London, UK: ‘Unheard English Piano Music’ (with Dr Jonathan Clinch; 24/01/2020)
    • Spode Music Week, Derbyshire: ‘Herbert Howells unpublished piano music’ (14/08/2019)
    • Defence Academy, Shrivenham, UK: ‘Gregorian Chant: An Influence on Modern Life’ (04/10/2016)
    • Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, UK: ‘Sunsets and silences: the passage of time in Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux’ (25/10/2016)
    • Defence Academy, Shrivenham, UK: ‘A History of Music: Gregorian Chant’ (06/10/2015)
    • Goldsmiths, University of London, UK: ‘“A fine book collection that nobody wants to read”: piano pedals and their use’ (15/02/2014)
    • London International Piano Symposium, Royal College of Music, UK: ‘Sunsets and silences: the passage of time in Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux’ (02/2013)
    • Trinity College of Music: ‘Music for ondes Martenot and piano’ (11/2011)
    • Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK: ‘Music for ondes Martenot and piano’ (11/2011)
    • Junior Guildhall, London, UK: ‘Music and Birdsong’ (06/2009)
    • EPTA Annual Conference, Liverpool, UK: ‘Messiaen Piano Music’ (28–31/07/2008)
  • Pre-concert talks
    • Imperial College, London (18/03/2021)
    • York St John University: “Stations by Ian Wilson” (03/2014)
    • Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland, Belfast Festival: Interview with Ian Wilson (10/2012)
    • Sligo Film Festival: “The Crystal Liturgy” (11/11/2011)
    • Three Choirs Festival: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (08/2008)
    • West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge: Turangalîla-Symphonie (03/2008)
    • Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, Oxford (with Dr Ian Wilson; 02/2007)
    • Presteigne Festival (with Roger Nichols; 08/2005)
  • Publications
    • ‘Yvonne Loriod’ in Scholl, Robert (ed): Messiaen in Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)
    • ‘Vox musicorum: the musical community’s defence of traditional Catholic worship’ in Shaw, Joseph (ed): title TBC (Waterloo, ON: Arouca Press, forthcoming)
    • Si j’étais Roi by Ivor Gurney, co-editor with Philip Lancaster (The Maker’s Press, 2021)
    • ‘New Recording of Rare Manuscripts by Herbert Howells’: Naxos Musicology International, June 2020
    • ‘Les Noces and Trois petites Liturgies: Stravinsky's Influence on Messiaen’ in Christopher Dingle and Nigel Simeone (eds): Olivier Messiaen: Music, Art and Literature (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006), pp. 40–62
  • Dissertations supervised
    University of Cambridge
    • ‘Beyond and beneath’: myth and reality in Messiaen’s Harawi (2020–21)
    • Time altered? Temporal preoccupations in Olivier Messiaen's Saint François d'Assise (2016–17)
    • Pedal technique as ‘a kind of breathing’ in Debussy’s piano music (2015–16)
    • ‘Coming to terms with Wagner’: Identity and Originality in Hans Werner Henze’s Tristan (2012–13)
    • ‘A division of labour’? Complementarity and conflict in Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen (2011–12)
    • Correspondences: Duality and Symmetry in the Late Works of Henri Dutilleux (2011–12)
    • The Shadows of Time: ‘Progressive Growth’ in the Orchestral Music of Henri Dutilleux (2010–11)
    • Langage communicable? Modes of Expression in the Music of Olivier Messiaen (2010–11)
    • ‘Everything in the world is linked; when you see one thing, then you can also understand many others.’ Finding Estonia’s political Zeitgeist in the choral works of Arvo Pärt (2009–10)
    • Iannis Xenakis: ‘Translating Futurism into Sound’? (2009–10)
    • ‘Un reflet dans le vent’: the importance of theme in the music of Olivier Messiaen (2008–09)
    • How important was orchestral composition (until 1933) in the early compositional career of Olivier Messiaen, and what role did religion and poetry play in the construction of those works? (2008–09)
    • ‘By Image, By Symbol’: Representation and Symbolism in Olivier Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise (2008–09)
    • ‘An English Composer’? An assessment of Finzi’s sense of self-identity in his wartime music (2007–08)
    • ‘La toute-puissance de l’exemple’: Olivier Messiaen, composer-pedagogue (2007–08)
    • Messiaen and the Great Western Tradition: an historical and analytical study of the Trois petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine (2006–07)
    • The Music of Benjamin Britten (2005–06)
    • The Music of Peter Warlock (2005–06)
  • Academic Assessor
    University of Cambridge
    • Research Fellowship, St John’s College (2020/21)
    • Junior Research Fellowship, St Edmund’s College (2017/18)