Matthew Hindson ( b. 1968) studied composition at the University of Sydney and at the University of Melbourne with composers including Peter Sculthorpe, Eric Gross, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards. Hindson’s works have been performed by ensembles and orchestras throughout his native Australia, including most of its professional symphony orchestras and chamber groups. Overseas, his compositions have been presented in New Zealand, Germany, France, Austria, the UK, Holland, Portugal, the USA, Japan, Malaysia, Canada and Thailand, and have been featured at such key events as the 1994 and 2000 Gaudeamus Music Weeks in Amsterdam, the 1997 ISCM Festival in Copenhagen and the 1998 Paris Composers Rostrum.

His music often displays influences of popular music styles within a classical music context, and, as a result, musical elements such as driving repeated rhythms and loud dynamic levels are typically found in his works. Indeed, directness and immediacy are common features in the much of his music.
In 1999 Matthew was the attached composer to the Sydney SO. Works written during this attachment include Boom- Box and In Memoriam: Amplified Cello Concerto ( the latter was subsequently nominated for an APRA- AMC award for Best Orchestral Work of 2001) . He was also the attached composer with the Sydney Youth Orchestra in the same year, for whom he was commissioned to write a Violin Concerto .

In 2002 he was the featured composer with Musica Viva Australia for whom he has written a number of new commissions for Kristjan Järvi’s Absolute Ensemble, baroque violinist Andrew Manze, the Australian Virtuosi, Diana Doherty and the Belcea String Quartet, and Duo Sol. In May 2002, the Sydney Dance Company toured Australia to much acclaim with a new 90- minute production, Ellipse, choreographed by their Artistic Director, Graeme Murphy, and danced entirely to Hindson’s music. Playing to packed houses it broke box- office records for the SDC. They toured it to the USA in 2004 to much acclaim. In December 2002 the London Philharmonic Orchestra gave the European premiere of Boom- Box in London’s Royal Festival Hall and will present RPM in June 2004, whilst in the same month Speed received its European premiere in Germany, with the Jenaer PO and Andrey Boreyko. Other recent achievements include works for the Australian Youth Orchestra, commissioned by Ars Musica Australis (A Symphony of Modern Objects) , West Australian SO (Auto- Electric) , the Goldner String Quartet (Industrial Night Music) , and Love, Death, Music and Plants, a music theatre work based on the life of Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, founder of the Royal Melbourne Botanic Gardens.

In September 2003, Matthew was a featured composer at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales, during which fourteen of his works were performed by a variety of ensembles. He is the attached composer to the Queensland Orchestra in 2004/ 2005. In addition, his music was set to dance by Ballett Schindowski in Germany in January 2004, as a full- evening event. Future works include a number of works for The Queensland Orchestra and a flute concerto entitled House Music for American flautist, Marina Piccinini.

In 2005 the NSW Orff Schulwerk Association commissioned Matthew to write Waiting for Rain, this will have its premiere performance at the Fourteenth Conference of the the Australian National Council of Orff Schulwerk.