Matthew Boden - Sustained contribution to Australian composition, orchestration, and live improvisational performance

NOMINATION: Luminary - Individual

Nominator Statement

I am writing to nominate stand-out pianist and composer Matthew Boden for this award. I have known Matthew in a personal and professional capacity over the past 10 years, and have been constantly inspired by how much music he fits into every day - from orchestrating music for a television series to performing improvisational jazz at a local venue, or playing collaboratively with jazz and classically trained musicians on Australia's biggest stages. Matt is a music all-rounder in the fullest extent of the word, and it's hard to imagine that his skills cross into so many different areas and collaborative performances and recordings. Matt is based in Tasmania and his work spans Australia. He has a history of international touring as a jazz pianist, but within the timeframe of this award, he has collaborated as a pianist through live performances and improvisational jazz with artists including Orchestra Victoria, Vince Jones, John Scurry's Reverse Swing, and the Damien Kingston Quartet. Matt also performed piano in Panorama Brasil in a knock-out show to rave reviews at the 2024 Melbourne International Jazz Festival called Rhapsody in Blue at 100. Matt also orchestrates through Australian-based arts initiative Play Pause Record, through which he has worked on ABC television series Fires, a drama film starring Luke Hemsworth called Bosch and Rockit, along with international credits with Netflix (Clickbait, Benji). In 2024, Matt also composed an outstanding piece of concert music called Fanfare for Brass Quintet, which was successfully premiered and widely performed in Tasmania 2024 by Compass Brass featuring musicians from the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (and later in Canberra to open Federal Parliament). In the area of jazz, Matt's own improvisation and jazz collaborative recordings are featured often on ABC Jazz Track. Matt also showcased his home state of Tasmania through an atmospheric and place-based score for the 2024 drama Ancestry Road. In live music, Matt performs in Sixty Jazz Club and Pablo's as a regular guest, showing that he fosters meaningful connections between local artists as well as his ability to write music in demand across the country. With such sustained and widespread contribution to Australian composition, orchestration and live performance in so many ways - and always with excellence, creativity, and professionalism - I am of the firm belief that Matt is deserving of a Luminary Award. At the end of the day, he's the kind of musician who exudes kindness, integrity, and works well with everyone he meets - and that's an invaluable contribution to our music industry that should be rewarded in itself.