Matthew Hunter - viola
Matthew 'discovered' the viola at the age of 26. At the time he was pursuing a career as a violinist and had devised a special learning programme for the instrument. His theory was that if he could play Beethoven's Violin Concerto on the viola, a more cumbersome instrument, then it would be child's play with the violin. In fact, he fell under the spell of the instrument's warm, almost greedy sound. Soon he was winning the Gee International Viola Competition.
Matthew started learning music at the age of seven. His mentors were Julian Olevsky, Roman Totenberg (former assistant to Carl Flesch in Berlin), Michael Tree and Jaime Laredo. In 1985 he became an assistant to Masao Kawasaki at the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. His academic training was completed with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Dartmouth College, and a Master of Music degree.
Matthew joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 1991 after serving as Vice Principal Viola of the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Since 2003 he has been teaching at the Hanns Eisler Hochschule for Music in Berlin.