Australian-born tenor Matthew Shorten is a multifaceted musician and artist, dedicated to interpreting repertoires spanning the last millennium. His foremost passions include the choral, oratorio, and operatic works of the Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical periods, the delights of the 19th and 20th century art song, and choral and vocal works by living composers from around the globe.
Matthew performs with ensembles internationally including the Bach Society of Minnesota, Ensemble Altera, Harmonia Stellarum, Victoria Bach Festival, Red Dot Baroque, and Servire. He also served as Tenor & Artistic Co-Director of the acclaimed Minneapolis-based choral ensemble Cantus for the 2022-23 season. Matthew has performed as a soloist in several gems of the repertoire and is featured on albums with Cantus, Voices of Singapore, and the Vanderbilt Chorale, among others. He also curated the programs for his solo debuts with the Bach Society of Minnesota and Red Dot Baroque. specializing in the works of Bach, Handel, Lully, Mozart, and Vivaldi.
As a composer-performer committed to the proliferation of new music, Matthew has premiered works by Griffin Candey, Jennifer Lucy Cook, Melissa Dunphy, Seare Farhat, Darius Lim, Jake Runestad, Paul Smith, and Christopher Vu, among others.
Matthew received his Bachelor of Music summa cum laude in Composition, Voice, and Violin from the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, where he graduated as the 2020 Founder’s Medalist, the university’s highest honor. He was also a 2021-22 Henry Luce Scholar, based at the Tokyo University of the Arts. Matthew is currently pursuing his M.A. in the History of Art at the Williams College Graduate Program at the Clark Art Institute, where he is a Curatorial Fellow of Paintings and Sculpture.