Holly Mathieson (born 28 May 1981, in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

conductor and music academic.

Education and early life

Mathieson completed her BMus (hons) in

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

and

analysis Analysis ( : analyses) is the process of breaking a complex topic or substance into smaller parts in order to gain a better understanding of it. The technique has been applied in the study of mathematics and logic since before Aristotle (38 ...

from the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

in 2001. She earned an MMus in orchestral conducting from the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. She received a PhD in music from Otago in 2010 on the subject of the

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

Louis Jullien Louis George Maurice Adolphe Roche Albert Abel Antonio Alexandre Noë Jean Lucien Daniel Eugène Joseph-le-brun Joseph-Barême Thomas Thomas Thomas-Thomas Pierre Arbon Pierre-Maurel Barthélemi Artus Alphonse Bertrand Dieudonné Emanuel Josué V ...

, Hans Richter and Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hund ...

. In 2004, Mathieson conducted the world premiere in 2004 of

Anthony Ritchie Anthony Damian Ritchie (born 18 September 1960) is a New Zealand composer and academic. He has been a freelance composer accepting commissions for works and in 2018 he became professor of composition at The University of Otago after 18 years of ...

's ''

The God Boy ''The God Boy'' is a novel written by Ian Cross, first published in 1957 and reprinted in 2003. Cross, who was a journalist, based the story on the real lives of juvenile delinquents he encountered in his work. The book was adapted as an op ...

''. Mathieson is a graduate of the St Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic masterclass (Alexander Polishchuk and Mark Stringer), London Conducting Workshop (

Neil Thomson Neil William Thomson (born 23 May 1966) is a British conductor and conducting professor. Neil Thomson was born in London in 1966, and educated at Dulwich College. He then studied violin and viola at the Royal Academy of Music (1984–87) and ...

and John Farrer),

Dartington International Summer School Dartington International Summer School is a summer school and festival of music held on the medieval estate of Dartington Hall and is a department of the Dartington Trust. Operation First established at Bryanston School in 1948 (largely throu ...

(John Carewe and Pierre-André Valade), and the Pärnu Music Festival Järvi Academy (Leonid Grin,

Neeme Järvi Neeme Järvi (; born 7 June 1937) is an Estonian American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn. He initially studied music there, and later in Leningrad at the Leningrad Conservatory under Yevgeny Mravinsky, and Nikolai Rabinovich, ...

and

Paavo Järvi Paavo Järvi (; born 30 December 1962) is an Estonian-American conductor. Early life Järvi was born in Tallinn, Estonia, to Liilia Järvi and the Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi. His siblings, Kristjan Järvi and Maarika Järvi, are also mu ...

Career

In the UK, Mathieson became an orchestral librarian with the

Philharmonia Orchestra The Philharmonia Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It was founded in 1945 by Walter Legge, a classical music record producer for EMI. Among the conductors who worked with the orchestra in its early years were Richard Strauss, W ...

in 2010, while she continued to study conducting privately. With the Philharmonia, she was a conducting assistant to

Christoph Von Dohnányi Christoph von Dohnányi (; born 8 September 1929) is a German conducting, conductor. Biography Youth and World War II Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to Hans von Dohnanyi, a German jurist of Hungarian ancestry, and Christine von Dohnanyi ...

and

Esa-Pekka Salonen Esa-Pekka Salonen (; born 30 June 1958) is a Finnish orchestral conductor and composer. He is principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, conductor laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and music di ...

. She has been an assistant conductor to

Marin Alsop Marin Alsop ( �mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate ...

in projects with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Paris and Berlin, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

’s

Last Night of the Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert H ...

. In 2013, Mathieson became founding artistic director of the Horizont Musik-Kollektiv (Berlin). For 2014-2015, she was a Leverhulme Fellow in conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS), mentored by

Garry Walker Garry Walker (born 1974, Edinburgh) is a Scottish conductor. Biography Walker received his secondary school education at St Mary's Music School. His initial musical training was as a cellist, and he subsequently played cello in the Edinbur ...

, and assistant to

Donald Runnicles Sir Donald Cameron Runnicles OBE HonFRSE (born 16 November 1954, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish conductor. Life and career The son of William Runnicles, a director of a furniture supply company and a choirmaster and organist, and Christine ...

at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Mathieson has served as associate conductor of Opera Holland Park. In 2015, Mathieson became Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland Junior Orchestra. Between 2015 and 2017, Mathieson was Vocal Director and Lecturer in Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London. From 2016 to 2018, Mathieson was assistant conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. In 2018, Mathieson was named co-artistic director of the Nevis Ensemble, alongside Jon Hargreaves, her husband. With the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Isata Kanneh-Mason, Mathieson has recorded music of Clara Schumann commercially for Decca Classics. In 2018, Mathieson first guest-conducted Symphony Nova Scotia, as one of two finalist candidates for the post of music director with the orchestra. She returned in November 2019 for a further guest-conducting engagement. In December 2019, Symphony Nova Scotia announced the appointment of Mathieson as its next music director, effective January 2020, with an initial contract of 3 years. This appointment marks her first orchestral music directorship. Mathieson is the first female conductor to be named music director of Symphony Nova Scotia. Mathieson and Hargreaves reside in Glasgow. In 2021 she returned New Zealand to conduct the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra for the first time in concerts with the metal band

Alien Weaponry Alien Weaponry is a New Zealand thrash metal band from Waipu, formed in Auckland in 2010. The band consists of drummer Henry de Jong, guitarist Lewis de Jong and, since August 2020, bass player Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds. All three members have M� ...

Awards

* 2009: Adrienne, Lady Stewart and the NZ Arts Foundation recipient

References

External links

Official website of Holly Mathieson

The Arts Foundation, New Zealand, page on Holly Mathieson

'Ep. 95: Holly Mathieson, conductor'
Interview by Tigran Arakelyan
Calling Home: Holly Mathieson in Glasgow/Nova Scotia
Interview on

RNZ Radio New Zealand ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa), commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and cu ...

, 12 June 2022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathieson, Holly 1981 births Living people New Zealand women conductors (music) New Zealand academics University of Otago alumni 21st-century conductors (music)