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. 

Holly’s 2024/25 season marks her fifth and final year as Music Director at the Symphony Nova Scotia. Their season begins with a performance including Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 alongside pianist Tony Yike Yang. Later in the month, she is conducting a programme including Stephanie Orlando’s Repetitive Patterns of Inhale and Exhale, Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, and Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Throughout the spring, programmes include everything from concerts with both core repertoire and contemporary music, as well as modern productions across different artistic formats and genres. 

Although taking a step back from Music Directorship of Symphony Nova Scotia she will continue the artistic partnership that she has built with them since her appointment in 2019, whilst balancing her personal and professional commitments in Scotland. 

Previous seasons include performances with Victoria Symphony Orchestra Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra in Canada. She conducted the Royal Danish Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Performances in the UK include concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Aberdeen Sinfonietta, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the orchestras of the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Northern College of Music, and the Royal College of Music. She conducted Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Royal Albert Hall, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a recording of Einaudi for BBCTV. 

Amongst the highlights of Holly’s recent seasons are debuts with the 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 Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. Recent debuts include Scottish Opera Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, English Touring Opera (Mozart’s Così fan Tutte), Opera North (Will Todd’s Song of our Heartland) and New Zealand Opera, conducting Britten’s Turn of the Screw. 

Holly’s debut CD with Decca featuring Clara Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Isata Kanneh-Mason and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was released in July 2019 and immediately landed on the No.1 spot in the UK Classical charts.  

Early on in Holly’s conducting career, she was chosen as one of only four young conductors from around the world to participate in the Interaktion Dirigentenwerkstatt des Kritischen Orchesters with players from the Berlin Philharmonic and other top-tiered German orchestras. She has worked with, and learned at the side of, many esteemed conductors and counts the following among her mentors: Marin Alsop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph von Dohnányi, Peter Oundjian, Donald Runnicles, Thomas Søndergård, and Garry Walker. 

Holly is based in Scotland. She holds a PhD in Music Iconography and has been named as one of New Zealand's Top 50 Women of Achievement. 

 
William BurtonConductor