Professor of Composition and Sonic Art
School of Creative Arts & Industries
Composer, producer and sound designer.
Matt Wright is a composer, producer and sound designer based in Kent, UK.He is Professor of Composition and Sonic Art; Research Lead for UOA33 (Music, Dance, Drama and Performing Arts); Route Lead for the Mmus (Master of Music) and PhD supervisor for students with interests in composition, improvisation and technology.
2005 - joined CCCU as lecturer in Commercial Music; 2006 - became Programme Director of Access to Music; 2008 - became Senior Lecturer and Programme Director of BA (Hons) Creative Music Technology; 2010 - became Reader in Composition and Sonic Art; 2014 - became Director of Research for Music, Dance, Drama and Performing Arts; 2015 - promoted to Professor of Composition and Sonic Art; 2023 - promoted to Professor Level 2
Matt Wright is a composer, producer and sound designer based in Kent, UK. His output stretches from scores for early music ensembles and contemporary chamber groups to digital improvisation, experimental turntablism and website installations, alongside collaborations with dance, theatre and film. As a performer he works with turntables, laptops and surround sound installations to create post-DJ, multichannel music embracing hip hop, avant and improvised traditions.
He works alongside Evan Parker in their live/studio project Trance Map (featuring guests such as Toma Gouband, Peter Evans, Spring Heel Jack and Mark Nauseef) as well as performer for The Evan Parker Electroacoustic Ensemble (EAE). He also runs Spheric Totemic, a flexible electronic ensemble founded with keyboard player Alexander Hawkins and bassist Neil Charles and featuring collaborators such as Mandhira de Saram, Stephen Davis, Nick Dunston and Olie Brice. Other notable collaborations include with Ensemble Klang (The Hague); Bl!ndman (Brussels); Champ D'Action (Antwerp); The Six Tones (Stockholm / Hanoi); Ensemble Offspring (Sydney); CEPROMusic (Mexico City); B’Rock Orchestra (Ghent); Elaine Mitchener projects and the Alexander Hawkins Ensemble (UK).
Duo projects include Speak Cities with Keir Neuringer (Irreversible Entanglements); Single Combat with Roger Redgate; UnrealTime Combat with Panos Ghikas (The Chap) and The Wheel with Robert Stillman (The Smile).
His work has been presented at the Sydney Opera House, Le Poisson Rouge (New York), the Muziekcentrum an ‘t IJ (Amsterdam), The Kim Ma Theatre (Vietnam) and Abbey Road Studios, Tate Britain and Tate Modern. He has been commissioned by organisations such as hcmf// (UK), MATA (NYC), BBC/Tectonics (Glasgow) and Transit (Leuven). His music and sound is regularly broadcast on adventurous radio across the globe, including a two-hour programme on Australia’s ABC network.
Reviews of his projects have appeared in the New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, Vietnam Today, The Times and The Financial Times. In 2014 he was guest Artistic Director for the Sounds New Festival, remixing Robert Wyatt's Cuckooland album into a concert-length collaboration with Elaine Mitchener, Tony Hymas and the Brodsky Quartet. In 2015, Totem for Den Haag was selected to represent UK new music in the UK/Mexico dual year. In 2017-18 he was musical director for Network at the National Theatre, starring Bryan Cranston, directed by Ivo van Hove, with music by Eric Sleichim. In 2021 he collaborated with Adam Linson and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra to co-create Cutout 6x6, described in by The Times as ‘riotous’.
Recordings of his work are released on Relative Pitch Records (NYC); Psi, Migro and Extra Normal (UK); Ensemble Klang (The Hague) and Intakt (Zurich). Scores of his work are represented by Donemus, The Hague. He studied contemporary and experimental music with Richard Steinitz and with Christopher Fox at the University of Huddersfield; with Steve Martland in London, with Louis Andriessen, Martijn Padding and Richard Ayres at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague and with Roger Redgate at Goldsmiths. He is Professor of Composition and Sonic Art at Canterbury Christ Church University, an Associate Researcher at the Orpheus Institute, Ghent and in 2023 he was guest teacher at The Royal Conservatory, The Hague.
Sound New Festival: Guest Artistic Director - 2014
REF2014: Output Assessor: UOA35
2017-2018: Musical Director for Network at the National Theatre
2016-2019: Research Consultancy/Critical Friend: Hong Kong Baptist University; The Royal Conservatory, The Hague