Matthew Sping Academia
Matthew Spring
Performer, Researcher/Academic
About
Matthew was born in Tanzania in 1957, went to school in London and then Cornwall, finishing his school education at Saltash Comprehensive School in Cornwall. Gaining a first-class degree in Music and History at Keele University (1976-80), he followed this with an MMus with distinction from Goldsmiths College London University in ethnomusicology and completed a DPhil at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1987. He also enjoyed a gap year at Sarah Lawrence College, US (1975-6); and studied lute and early music performance at the Royal College of Music (1980-81). Matthew performed widely both nationally and internationally from 1992 to 2002 including British Council tours to Turkey, Egypt, The Baltic States and South America.
Matthew’s first academic appointment was at London Guildhall University, where he held a three-year Leverhulme Research Fellowship (1989-92). As a visiting lecturer he taught at West Dean College and Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University). Matthew was a music lecturer at Birmingham University (1999-2004) and a lecturer at
Bath Spa University from 1996. Matthew was a Reader in Music at Bath Spa University from 2004 to 2020 and is now a Visiting Research Fellow.
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Matthew’s History of the Lute in Britain was published by OUP in 2001 and won the international Bessaraboff prize from The American Musical Instrument Society (AMIS), and his edition of the Balcarres Manuscript (AHRC award) was published in 2010. He performs with many Early Music ensembles and has appeared on over 50 recordings. Matthew has wide interests in Early Music with a specialism in music for the lute and related instruments. Working in Bath he has developed an interest in the music of Georgian Bath and British provincial music. He is working on a number of large editing projects including a 2-volume anthology of English solo lute music for The Music Britannica Trust.