Born in Farnborough in 1957, Best was educated at King’s College Cambridge (where he was a choral scholar) and the National Opera Studio, studying with Robert Lloyd and Otakar Kraus. Shortly after his graduation from Cambridge, Best’s Lewis Carroll-inspired opera Alice was premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival, with The Musical Times praising his ‘neat sense of fantasy’ and ‘bright, sharply outlined themes’.
But it was as a soloist that Best began to make waves in the early 1980s. He was engaged by Covent Garden as a company singer whilst still in his early twenties and won first prize in the Decca-Kathleen Ferrier Prize (now the Kathleen Ferrier Award) in 1981. Best sang over a hundred operatic roles in the course of his forty-year career; initially a low bass, he eventually expanded his repertoire to include dramatic baritone roles such as Scarpia in Puccini's Tosca, Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal, and Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome. In the early 2000s he sang Wotan in Scottish Opera’s Ring Cycle, when The Guardian described his performance as ‘vocally impressive [and] psychologically probing’ and The Independent deemed him ‘a richly sonorous bass of ever-increasing gravitas’.
His discography as a soloist included The Priest/The Angel of the Agony in Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and David Hill, both Dansker and Mr Flint in Britten’s Billy Budd (conducted by Daniel Harding and Richard Hickox respectively), and Pimen on English-language recording of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.
Alongside his singing work Best forged a highly successful career as a conductor, having founded the Corydon Singers when he was just sixteen years old, and the Corydon Orchestra in 1990. The Singers made their debut recording in 1983 with an album of Bruckner motets on Hyperion and went on to win particular acclaim for their recordings of Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, The Pilgrim’s Progress (with Sir John Gielgud as narrator) and Hugh the Drover, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, the Howells, Duruflé and Fauré Requiems, and early choral works by Beethoven. Best also worked closely with The Hanover Band, the English Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, and the London Mozart Players.
In the latter part of his career Best devoted a significant amount of his energy to teaching young singers, taking up a position on the vocal faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music in 2015; just three weeks ago he was awarded a Fellowship by the College, with the Head of Vocal Studies and Opera Lynne Dawson paying tribute to his ‘wicked sense of humour and integrity’.
John Scott (organ - Fauré), Thomas Trotter (organ - Duruflé), English Chamber Orchestra, Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Elizabeth Connell (soprano), Amanda Roocroft (soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Martyn Hill (tenor), Maldwyn Davies (tenor), Anne Dawson (soprano), Linda Kitchen (soprano), Alan Opie (baritone), Gwynne Howell (bass), Thomas Allen (baritone)
English Chamber Orchestra, Matthew Best
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Bonaventura Bottone (Hugh the Drover), Rebecca Evans (Mary), Alice Coote (Nancy), Sarah Walker (Aunt Jane), Richard Van Allan (The Constable), Alan Opie (John The Butcher), Neil Jenkins (The Turnkey)
Corydon Singers & Orchestra, The New London Children's Choir, Matthew Best
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Corydon Orchestra, Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Available Format: CD
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Available Format: CD
Corydon Singers, Matthew Best
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
Philip Langridge (Vere), Simon Keenlyside (Billy), John Tomlinson (Claggart), Alan Opie (Mr Redburn), Matthew Best (Mr Flint), Alan Ewing (Mr Ratcliffe), Francis Egerton (Red Whiskers), Clive Bayley (Dansker)
London Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Tiffin Boys' Choir, Richard Hickox
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV, Hi-Res FLAC/ALAC/WAV
John Tomlinson (Boris), Stuart Kale (Prince Shuisky), Clive Bayley (Varlaam), Joan Rodgers (Xenia), Susan Parry (Feodor), Yvonne Howard (Old Nurse), Matthew Best (Pimen)
Opera North Chorus, English Northern Philharmonia, Paul Daniel
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
William Kendall (Gerontius), Sarah Fryer (The Angel), Matthew Best (The Priest/The Angel of the Agony)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Chorus, Waynflete Singers Choir, David Hill
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC/ALAC/WAV
