Holly Mathieson

Holly Mathieson (28 May 1981) is a New Zealand conductor and academic. In 2015 she lives in London, United Kingdom.

Mathieson was born in Dunedin, New Zealand. She completed her BMus (hons) in composition and analysis from the University of Otago in 2001. She earned an MMus in orchestral conducting from the University of Melbourne Conservatorium. She received a PhD in Music in the subject of Iconography "Embodying Music: The Visuality of Three Iconic Conductors in London, 1840-1940" in 2010. In 2014-15, she was a Leverhulme Fellow in Conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, mentored by Garry Walker and assisting Donald Runnicles at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

She is a graduate of the St Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic masterclass (Alexander Polishchuk and Mark Stringer), London Conducting Workshop (Neil Thomson and John Farrer), Dartington International Summer School (John Carewe and Pierre-André Valade), and the Pärnu Music Festival Järvi Academy (Leonid Grin, Neeme Järvi and Paavo Järvi).

In August 2016, Holly was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra following a recruitment process which attracted over three-hundred applicants world-wide. The position is for an initial 2 year period.

In 2015, Holly became Resident Conductor of the National Youth orchestra of Scotland Junior Orchestra.

In 2014-15, she accepted a Leverhulme Fellowship in Conducting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, mentored by Garry Walker and assisting Donald Runnicles at the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She also conducted the Red Note Ensemble at Scotland's PLUG Festival. Since 2013, Mathieson is Artistic Director of the Horizont Musik-Kollektiv (Berlin).

In 2010, Mathieson started working as orchestral librarian at the Philharmonia Orchestra, London, while she continued to study conducting privately. She went on to assist Christoph Von Dohnányi and Esa-Pekka Salonen with that orchestra. She also assisted Marin Alsop in projects with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Paris and Berlin, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms; she was a finalist in the 2015 competition for assistant conductor of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France; and was selected for the Interaktion Dirigentenwerkstatt des Kritischen Orchesters with players from the Berlin Philharmonic and other German orchestras in 2013.

Opera work includes Associate Conductor at Opera Holland Park for the 2015 Christine Collins Young Artist Performance Of Léo Delibes' Lakmé; Assistant Conductor for Garsington Opera's award-winning 2014 production of Leoš Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen; conducting the world premiere of Anthony Ritchie's The God Boy (New Zealand, 2004); and Opera Otago's Così fan tutte at the 2008 Otago Festival of the Arts.

Since 2015, Mathieson is Vocal Director and Lecturer in Performance at Goldsmiths, University of London.

• 2000 University of Otago J.M.W. Speirs Memorial Prize, Most Promising Conducting Student
• 2002 Mona Semke Scholarship (Rotary New Zealand)
• 2003 University of Melbourne Postgraduate Prize in Music
• 2006 Elman Poole Travelling Scholarship
• 2005-2007 University of Otago Humanities Postgraduate Scholarship
• 2008 Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship
• 2009 Adrienne, Lady Stewart and the NZ Arts Foundation recipient
• 2012 AMP and Roost Mortgage Scholarship winner
• 2013 Honorable Mention Taki Concordia Conducting Fellowship

• "2009 Recipient - Adrienne, Lady Stewart | The Arts Foundation". Thearts.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-01-07. 
• "Holly Mathieson :: AMP Scholarships". Doyourthing.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-01-07. 
• "Roost's major boost for aspiring southern conductor - Queenstown News". Scene.co.nz. 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2016-01-07.