Matthew studied the lute with Diana Poulton and Jacob Lindberg at the RCM and has published both on lute music and British provincial music. He gained a first-class music and history BA from Keele University, an MMus in Ethnomusicology from Goldsmith’s College London University, and a PhD from Magdalen College Oxford. He was a Reader in Music at Bath Spa University from 2004 and is now Visiting Fellow. He has made over 50 recordings and his recent recording of Scottish lute music from the Balcarres Lute Book is the culmination of a long study of the book and the production of a scholarly edition for the Music of Scotland series.

Matthew’s solo authored books include: The Balcarres Manuscript (2010 AHRC grant), and The Lute in Britain (2001). Books of recently contributed chapters for include: Plesaunt and necessary for mighty princes’: Elizabethan Musical Instruments in Marquetry at Hardwick Hall, (Bodell Brewer 2021; The Musicians of Bath and Beyond (Ashgate, 2016); The Lute in the Netherland (Cambridge, 2015).

Matthew is a founder member of Sirinu and has a longstanding duo with singer Sara Stowe. He has wide interests in Early Music with a specialism in music for the lute and related instruments. Through working in Bath for 25 years he developed an interest in the music of Georgian Bath and British provincial music. He is working on number of large editing projects, including a two-volume anthology of English solo lute music for The Music Britannica Trust.