Collection: Matthew Hindson

Hindson was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, in 1968. He studied composition at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne with composers including Peter Sculthorpe, Eric Gross, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards.

His music often displays influences of popular music styles within a classical music context, and, as a result, musical elements such as driving repeated rhythms and high dynamic levels are typically found in his works. Indeed, directness and immediacy are common features in much of his music.

Hindson’s works have been performed by ensembles and orchestras throughout Australia, including most of its professional symphony orchestras and chamber groups. Overseas, his compositions have been presented in New Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, the UK, Holland, Portugal, the USA, Japan, Malaysia, Canada, and Thailand.

In 1999 Hindson was the attached composer to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra; his In Memoriam: Amplified Cello Concerto, which was written during this time, was nominated for an APRA-AMC award for Best Orchestral Work of 2001. In 2002 the Sydney Dance Company toured Australia to much acclaim with Ellipse, a new 90-minute production that broke box office records for the SDC and was performed entirely to Hindson's music. Hindson was the attached composer to the Queensland Orchestra for their 2003/04 season, which resulted in his Percussion Concerto, written for Dame Evelyn Glennie and premiered in Brisbane in 2006.

Other notable compositions include his flute concerto House Music for American flautist Marina Piccinini, which was premiered with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006, and his Concerto for Two Pianos (2011) written for Pascal and Ami Rogé. The London Philharmonic Orchestra have performed several of Hindson’s short orchestral pieces; in 2009 the orchestra premiered his work Dangerous Creatures, commissioned by them for their sell-out FunHarmonics series family concerts in the Royal Festival Hall. Hindson wrote the music for the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s 2009 production E=mc2, commissioned and choreographed for them by their Artistic Director David Bintley. The production won the prestigious South Bank Show Award for Dance in 2010. Bintley subsequently commissioned Hindson to write a second orchestral ballet, resulting in Faster, which was premiered by the BRB to much acclaim in 2012.

From 2004 to 2010 Hindson was the artistic director of the Aurora Festival, which is dedicated to the work of living composers.

Hindson was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006, for "service to the arts as a leading Australian composer and teacher of music, and through the wide promotion of musical works to new audiences".