Bio

Matthew is currently Director of the Salzburg Institute for Advanced Studies, a newly established public-facing education and research hub that leverages Salzburg's numerous resources in cultural diplomacy within a global context.

Educated at Magdalen College (University of Oxford) and in Philadelphia, Matthew's research focuses on cultural diplomacy, global music history, festival and opera studies, modern dance, Austrian literature, as well as the politics of musical life in Central Europe between c. 1914 and 1955. 

His latest book, Wegzeichen Neue Musik (Vienna, 2025), co-edited with Thomas Hochradner, brings together an international team of 17 authors who critically discern how interwar Salzburg's contemporary music scene became a catalyst for peace projects in the arts.

As a public-facing researcher, Matthew has spoken at the Vienna State Opera, Glyndebourne Opera, the Salzburg Festival, Musiktage Mondsee (Austria), and Academy Travel (Sydney), as well as delivered radio talks for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Deutschlandfunk Kultur, ORF Salzburg, and ORF Ö1's "Klassik Treffpunkt (a live format reaching a quarter of a million listeners). 

He has also published in the Salzburger Nachrichten and written programme notes for the Bayerische Staatsoper, La Monnaie, Staatstheater Nürnberg, and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, for whom he writes regularly. He has also curated several ground-breaking local and international exhibitions receiving more than 20,000 visitors.

Matthew initially gained valuable experience as an orchestral and chamber-music percussionist, which included contemporary music premieres and recordings, as well as invitations to tour abroad from such figures as King Hussein of Jordan and jointly Nania Yeltsin and Hilary Clinton. He has performed in prestigious venues such as the Academy of Music (Philadelphia), Jerash Festival (Jordan), Ruldofinum (Prague), and the Great Halls of the P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory (Moscow) and F. Liszt Conservatory (Budapest).

In addition to three degrees in music performance and historical musicology, Matthew holds a degree in theology. During this time he studied piano with the last full-time student of the Kiev-born pedagogue Rosina Lhévinne (Julliard) and organ with one of Marie-Madeleine Durflé's protégés. He also has extensive performing experience in choral conducting and as an amateur singer (from liturgical chant to contemporary music).

Matthew began teaching undergraduates in 1997 and has since taught extensively at universities in the USA (Philadelphia), UK (Cambridge & Norwich), and Austria, most recently holding the post of Senior Lecturer in musicology at a prominent Salzburg university. He has also held research posts in Germany (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).

Matthew regularly serves as an international referee for peer-reviewed journals, grant-funding bodies, and university-degree assessments. His research has been supported by major grants from Austrian and German foundations, including the DAAD, as well as by smaller subventions from American, Australian, and British organisations.

Since 2017, he has served as both the co-editor of the peer-reviewed Richard Strauss-Jahrbuch and General Secretary of the International Richard Strauss Society (est. 1952).  In 2023, the Salzburg Festival appointed him to the Academic Advisory Board of its newly reconstituted historical Archive.

 Contact: mwerley@sias.global