“The best voices belong to Daniella Sicari as the young wife Anne Egerman
and Matthew McKinney as her repressed son Henrik.”
Hailed for his ‘gorgeous lyric voice’, Scottish tenor Matthew McKinney is quickly establishing a reputation for his nuanced artistry, innate musicality and expressive performance across opera, song and concert. Winner of the 2024 Kathleen Ferrier Award main prize, Matthew makes a principal debut at Glyndebourne this season in the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Railway Children, followed by a debut with English National Opera in the spring. In recital, he appears with Malcolm Martineau, Roelof Temmingh, and Dearbhla Collins, and on the concert stage, he performs alongside the Sixteen and Britten Sinfonia for the world premiere of Sir James MacMillan’s Angels Unawares in Rome and London (Cadogan Hall), the Evangelist in St. John’s Passion in Paisley Abbey and Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Ayr, Scotland.
Highlights of recent seasons include his debut at Carnegie Hall as a song studio artist, Beethoven’s An Die Ferne Geliebte as part of the newly compiled work Do Not Take My Story for a Fairy Tale for English Touring Opera, Bach’s St Matthew Passion for Dunedin Consort, cover Bardolfo Falstaff for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and Luigino Il viaggio a Reims and Rustighello Lucrezia Borgia in new productions for English Touring Opera. Other roles include Tsar The Snow Maiden, Damon Acis & Galatea (Ryedale Festival) and Henrik A Little Night Music (Opera North, Buxton International Festival).
On the concert platform, Matthew’s repertoire includes Bach’s St John Passion, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Puccini’s Messe Di Gloria (The Orchestra of Scottish Opera), and Macmillan’s All the Hills and Vales Along.
Matthew has also established himself as an accomplished recitalist. Alongside his duo partner Roelof Temmingh, they have curated a programme called ‘Finding Freedom’, where they aim to blend the traditional recital format with distinctive, contemporary elements. ‘Finding Freedom’ has been presented in recitals across the UK and Ireland for Bechstein Hall, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Westbourne Musical Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, and Whiddon Autumn Festival among others.
Alongside his growing career as a soloist, Matthew has a passion for community music and music outreach. Over the years Matthew has loved conducting community choirs, touring new opera for children around England, helping run interactive music workshops for toddlers, and being a part of charity organisations like Streetwise Opera. He hopes to continue growing this part of his career for as long as he works. He feels this is a core part of who he is as a singer and musician.
This biography should not be reproduced or altered without permission.
“The best voices belong to Daniella Sicari as the young wife Anne Egerman
and Matthew McKinney as her repressed son Henrik.”
Winner of the 2024 Kathleen Ferrier Awards, Scottish tenor Matthew McKinney is quickly establishing himself as an exciting and sensitive young singer. He recently recorded Gastone La traviata (OperaGlass Works) and Rodolfo La bohème on Robin Norton-Hale’s forthcoming feature produced by Finite Films. He spends summer 2024 as a chorister at Glyndebourne Festival, before returning to English Touring Opera for their Autumn tour, where he will perform Beethoven’s An Die Ferne Geliebte as part of the newly compiled work Do Not Take My Story for a Fairy Tale, as well as covering the Tsar in a new English translation of Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden.
Other operatic roles include Damon Acis & Galatea for Ryedale Festival in 2022 and covering Henrik A Little Night Music at Opera North, having sung the role for Buxton International Festival in 2021. In 2023 he sang Luigino Il viaggio a Reims and Rustighello Lucrezia Borgia in new productions for ETO.
As a concert soloist, performances include Bach St John Passion, Handel Messiah, Haydn Creation, Mendelssohn Elijah, Mozart Requiem, Puccini Messe Di Gloria (The Orchestra of Sottish Opera). In October 2024, Matthew returns to Scotland in October to perform Macmillan’s All the Hills and Vales Along in Ayrshire. April 2025 will see Matthew debut as a step out soloist for the Dunedin Consort’s tour of Bach’s St Matthew Passion.
Following the success of the Ferrier, Matthew has established himself as an accomplished recitalist. He will tour, alongside duo partner Roelof Temmingh throughout the UK and Ireland in 2025. Cities and towns include London (Bechstein Hall), Glasgow (RCS and Westbourne Music Festival), Cambridge, Oxford, Devon (Whiddon Autumn Festival) and Cornwall. They are thrilled to have the opportunity to further explore their deep love of song repertoire.
Operatic choruses include Berlioz’ La Damnation du Faust, Bizet’s Carmen, Jonathan Dove’s The Day After, Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Korsakov’s The Golden Cockrel, Lehar’s The Merry Widow, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte Prokofiev’s The Fiery Angel, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus, Stravinski’s The Rake’s Progress, Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Die Götterdämmerung and Tristan Und Isolde and Weill’s Street Scene. You can catch Matthew’s heavily featured cameo role in Glyndebourne’s televised The Merry Widow, to be released by the BBC on Boxing Day 2024.
Matthew is a graduate of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he was gratefully supported by the Robertson Trust, John Mather Rising Star scholarship, Help Musicians (Ian Fleming) Award, Sir James Caird Travelling Scholarship, WFT Anderson Scholarship, The Underwood Trust Scholarship and The Dale Scholarship. While studying, he was taught by with Professor Stephen Robertson. Matthew now studies with Robert Dean and has regular coaching with Jane Robinson and Nicky Spence.
Alongside his growing career as a soloist, Matthew has a love for community music and music outreach. Over the years Matthew has loved conducting community choirs, touring new opera for kids around England, helping run interactive music workshops for toddlers, and being a part of charity organisations like Streetwise Opera. He hopes to continue growing this part of his career for as long as he works.
This biography should not be reproduced or altered without permission.