Matthew Herbert has made music from the complete life of a single pig, a bomb exploding in Libya, an orgasm, a town in Poland, a nightclub full of people, someone swimming the English channel, a tank driving over a meal made for Tony Blair, 20,000 dogs, the sewers beneath Fleet Street, 245 shops in a shopping centre and countless thousands of other noises.
He sometimes uses these kinds of sounds in his scores for Oscar-winning films, award-winning tv shows, plays, radio shows, opera and games. He has done a project with 1000 musicians and singers across Europe and toured the world both as a performer and as a DJ. He cut his teeth in dance music and has produced some inventive and influential music for clubs. He’s been voted remixer of the year a couple of times and has a PhD in working with sound in music. He has written a book called The Music which is a description of an album he’ll never make and is currently writing the follow up.
In March 2023, Matthew was selected for the ISCM British Section’s shortlist of composers submitted to the ISCM World New Music Days Festival in South Africa.
In November 2024, Matthew worked with vocalist Momoko Gill and experimental composer Ella Kay to create a new composition for SoundEscapes. SoundEscapes is a unique collaboration between Sound and Music and the Sainsbury Centre where 10 of the UK’s most exciting composers were invited to create new compositions to capture the essence of a work of art in the Centre’s collection, transforming the viewers’ experience.
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