Playing a Ruckers harpsichord at The Flint Collection, Wilmington, DE
Matthew Hall performs frequently in and around Boston as a solo harpsichord and organ recitalist and with the chamber ensemble Musical Offering. He is a frequent guest with the Montréal-based Ensemble 1729.
His interpretation of Bach has been praised as a “beautifully virtuosic soliloquy” delivered with “perfect elegance and control” (Arts First Review). He has also received praise for his “lively…and adventurous” playing (Boston Musical Intelligencer) and his “wonderful understanding of the subtlety and expressive potential of the French style” (Arts Boston).
In addition to his performing activities, Matthew is also the founder and executive director of Ad Parnassum, Inc., a non-profit organization which seeks to engage the public in early music and other classical music idioms in ways that go beyond the traditional concert-going experience, concerns which were fostered through his teaching at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education. As a freelance writer Matthew has contributed to Harpsichord & Fortepiano magazine and Early Music Performer. He also worked as an editorial assistant at the Packard Humanities Institute, Cambridge, publishers of C.P.E. Bach: The Complete Works.
Matthew studied music and linguistics at Harvard, completed a master’s degree in musicology at the University of Leeds (UK) on a Fulbright Scholarship while holding an Organ Scholarship at Leeds Cathedral, and completed a second master’s degree in harpsichord and organ performance under Peter Sykes at Boston University. He is now a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at Cornell University. His research interests are diverse: he has published work on 17th- and 18th-century topics, particularly keyboard studies, and is currently pursuing a project to collect and interpret new biographical information on the 15th-century composer Antoine Brumel. He also cultivates an expertise in 17th- and 18th-century French language, rhetoric, and declamatory style, especially as these inform musical interpretation. His recitations of Classic French texts have been called “luscious” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).
Short form:
Matthew Hall performs frequently in the Boston area as a harpsichord and organ recitalist. He has received praise for his “lively and adventurous” playing and “eloquent virtuosity” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). He studied music and linguistics at Harvard; completed a Master’s degree in musicology at the University of Leeds (UK) on a Fulbright Scholarship while holding an organ scholarship at Leeds Cathedral; and most recently earned a Master’s in harpsichord and organ performance at Boston University under Peter Sykes. He is now a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at Cornell University.