Matthew Krell is an award-winning pianist, composer, and accomplished actor who has been engrossed in the performing arts for sixteen years. He has been recognized in competitions, festivals, and masterclasses in Canada and the States and been praised by world-renowned leaders in the disciplines of acting, piano, and composition.
He was selected over seven times to represent the North Island District at the BC Performing Arts Festivals in Piano and Speech Arts, and was a winner of the Ruth Scott Chopin Competition, the Virginia Graczak Scholarship Competition, the Dorothy Brealey Memorial Scholarship, the Keen/Halleran Scholarship the BCRMTA's Young Artists' Competition (runner-up), Biennial Los Angeles International Liszt Competition as well as the California Association of Professional Music Teacher's Sonata, Romantic/Impressionistic, Honors (State Silver, State Bronze), Contemporary (State Gold), and Concerto (State Gold) Competitions.
He was winner of the California MTNA Young Artists' Competition, and most recently was honored in the PianoHouse International Competition receiving second place in the Franz Liszt Category as well as first in the Jazz Category.
Krell performs at countless concert galas and events every year, often receiving audience choice awards. He has been praised for his natural technique, virtuosic repertoire, comedic sensibilities, and audience appeal. He is a sought after collaborative artist, with over five thousand hours of accompanying experience spanning choral, orchestral, theatrical, instrumental, vocal, and recording arenas. He holds his Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music with an advanced certificate of theory, as well as the rare Licentiate of the Royal Conservatory in Piano Performance with distinction.
At the piano, Matthew seeks constant challenge, expanding his technical capabilities while exploring a wide array of genres and keyboard instruments, from Harpsichord and Organ to Synth and Keytar. With his substantial list of the standard repertoire composers, Matthew also seeks out and presents the music of lesser-known composers from the past as well as the music of living composers. He is an avid student of jazz and has been likened to the style and sound of Art Tatum. Virtuosic arrangements of pop-genre hits of the last fifty years also frequent his successful show series Classically Entertained.
In addition to piano, Matthew has seen success as an actor on stages spanning local theatre productions to Off-Broadway in New York City. He was recognized multiple years in competitive festivals with solo presentations of prose, drama, and poetry, resulting in performances at honors recitals, galas, and fundraisers. The area of musical theatre bridges his love of music and of acting, leading to a plethora of opportunities accompanying and coaching soloists, groups, studio sessions, and full large-scale productions since the age of fifteen.
Matthew holds a quadruple-emphasis Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, Sacred Music and Music Composition summa cum laude, a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and is continuing in the Doctoral program with a Keyboard Studies Teaching Assistantship. He also has completed diplomas from the Trinity College London in Speech Arts & Drama and Musical Theatre with distinction.