Holly Mathieson

Holly Mathieson

Conductor

Music Director of Symphony Nova Scotia

“She naturally feels just the right amount of give and take, enabling the music to flow.”
— Seen and Heard International

Contact

Lorna Neill

+44 (0)7798 531 819
lorna@musicinteralia.com

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Reviews

Reviews Archive

“Holly Mathieson got the first movement [of Berlioz] absolutely right in terms of finding a balance between structure and spontaneity – the opening music dreamlike, fragmented, episodic, creative, seemingly conjured out of the ether,  the conductor fluid in her movements, tending to use both arms as well as the baton to describe whole roulades of sound with her gestures, but getting the required “attack” as the strings raced through the cross-rhythms to the first “peak” of excitement, and pointedly bringing out the wind augmentations to the strings’ excitable reiteration of the opening."

Peter Mechen, Middle-C Classical Music Reviews, May 2021 (for NZSO: Takemitsu, Ker and Berlioz)

“From the outset, Mathieson conducted with total, crystalline clarity and control. The first movement’s great harmonic arc was beautifully sketched… The tone and feel of the symphony’s very first notes could still be heard in the last ones, a rare achievement even among the best conductors.”

Max Rashbrooke, Stuff, May 2021 (for NZSO: Takemitsu, Ker and Berlioz)

“Holly Mathieson’s beautifully configured orchestra delivers the audience a fine bonus, being right up there with its dramatic timing and wall-to-wall atmosphere. At the same time it creates a Bernard Herrmann-like pace and drive while supporting rather than dominating the singers who have a finely grained story to tell. Its presence is as evanescent as Quint’s.”

Theatreview NZ (Dave Smith), October 2019 (Opera New Zealand, The Turn of the Screw)

Current RSNO assistant conductor Holly Mathieson brings clarity and transparent appreciation for the elegance of the music to the seasonal diet of Strauss waltzes. Not to criticise the fine line-up of guest conductors we have seen already this season, but we do not see her often enough on the podium, where she was also a very informative emcee. This was a concert of charm and sophistication, miles from the barn-storming arena-filling approach that others have inflicted on these beautiful tunes.

The Herald Scotland (Keith Bruce), 2018 (RSNO, Viennese Gala, Stirling)

“... [If] there was an atmosphere conjured up it was mainly due to the efforts of the orchestra under the excellent New Zealand conductor Holly Mathieson. Her gestures were impeccably clear and yet expressive, and the orchestra responded impressively to her way with the score. She naturally feels just the right amount of give and take, enabling the music to flow. The orchestra needs to be extremely flexible to avoid exuding a sort of generalist Gallic feel, and Mathieson was particularly adept at isolating the central feel of a particular section, or following the unfolding drama naturally.”

Seen and Heard International (Colin Clark), 2015 (Holland Park Opera)

...[W]hat we had from the Junior Orchestra of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland on Saturday was a phenomenal display of musicianship. I literally thought, on the night: "These musicians are between eight and 13 years old; what they are achieving here tonight, in a sold-out Greyfriars concert, where the buzz is electric, is genuinely outstanding." Everything they did, guided and released by the charismatic New Zealand conductor Holly Mathieson, from MacCunn's Land of the Mountain and Flood to Gliere's little-known, gloriously-melodic Horn Concerto, came soaring off the page.

The Herald Scotland (Michael Tumelty), 2015 (NYOS Junior Orchestra)

 

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Biography

New Zealand-born Holly Mathieson is the Music Director of Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada. Her previous appointments have included Assistant Conductor at the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Resident Conductor within the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland Orchestras and she previously held the prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. With her passionate communication skills, crystalline technique and collaborative approach, she has won plaudits in all forms of music direction from opera, ballet, cross-genre to full scale symphonic programmes.

Last season 2022-23 saw Holly debut with Victoria Symphony Orchestra and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra in Canada and conduct the Royal Danish Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. In the UK, she conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a recording of Einaudi for BBCTV, and also Aberdeen Sinfonietta and the orchestra of the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

The 2023/24 season marks the fourth year of Holly’s Music Directorship with Symphony Nova Scotia, and her many visits to Halifax will include a project with Beethoven Piano Concertos, a concert tour of Canada and a side-by-side project with the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. She will also return to conduct Canada’s Victoria Symphony Orchestra.

In Europe this autumn she will conduct Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Philharmonia at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and a choral programme with the Halle Orchestra in Manchester’s Bridgwater Hall. 

Amongst the highlights of Holly’s recent seasons are debuts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New Brunswick Symphony Orchestra. She also performed extensively in New Zealand, touring with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as well as making return visits to …

 
William BurtonConductor