Matt SHEERAN – composer, orchestrator, arranger

Matt is a frighteningly talented composer, proficient and exciting in many musical genres.

2024 started with the release of a unique album, ‘Acoustic Microtonal’ and working with his brother on projects for later in the year.

In 2023 Matt was working on covers of well-known songs for BMG placements in films and advertising campaigns, including Time In A Bottle and My Way.

2022 saw Matt, writing string arrangements for Susanna Hoffs, produced by the legendary Peter Asher.  He worked extensively with composer, Dean Valentine, on several trailers as well as hugely successfully reversioning some Nelly Furtado tracks for Hipgnosis.

In 2021 Matt worked with brother, Ed, including arranging The Joker and the Queen.  He was also invited by BMG to do a reversioning of Yusuf/Cat Stevens‘s classic Lady D’Arbanville as part of the Teaser and the Tillerman anniversary celebrations.  Subsequently, he was invited to redo Dua Lupa‘s New Rules and Lizzo‘s Juice.

In 2020 he was nominated for a Grammy, he arranged Francesco Gabbani’s entry for the San Remo Song Festival, which came in second.

2019 was been largely taken up with expanding his work with BMG, with whom he signed a publishing deal in 2018, hot on the heels of the beautiful orchestral duet with brother Ed Sheeran and Andrea Bocelli, ‘Perfect Symphony‘.

He wrote a choral version of Blinded By Your Grace for Stormzy and composed a choral piece which was performed at Westminster Abbey.  His arranging projects have included the vocal group VOCES8, award-winning duo Ward Thomas, Andrea Bocelli, KT Tunstall (reversioning her hit “Little Red Thread”), and Mateo Bocelli.  

2017 was busy for Matt wearing his arranging hat, most notably for his orchestral arrangement of ‘I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas’ which was performed by legendary country singer LeAnn Rimes and the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

Matt scored the 2017 feature for Film Suffolk, The Haunted Hotel, and their 2016 feature With Love From Suffolk, as well as the short film Dr Sugarloaf which was shown at the Cannes Film Festival.

Other projects include a series of adverts for Triodos Bank and a film about the conservation of the Brazilian rainforest, narrated by Michael Palin.

Films he has orchestrated include Brothers of the Wind and the Russian epic Viking, as well as the trailer music for The Shape of Water, written by Dean Valentine.  A CD featuring Matt’s Christmas Carol In The Bleak Midwinter was released, performed by soprano Christina Johnston and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Matt comes from a musical family and he has a strong interest in music theory and can compose in many historical and contemporary styles and genres.  He enjoys the challenge of fusing music with images and expressing the full range of human emotions.  He is hard-working, driven, thoroughly amiable, and determined to achieve great success in film scoring and orchestration. We believe that he will do just that.

As a child, he was a prolific treble soloist in operas and church services. Classically trained, he has a broad and in-depth knowledge and a wide interest in music from around the world.  He plays violin and viola and studied for a degree in music at the University of Sussex before gaining a Masters in composition from King’s College, London. In 2010 he won the Presteigne Festival Competition for British Composers under 35, as well as the Chairman of the Jury Award at the Shipley Arts Festival.  In 2015 Matt wrote the music for the Audible Original audiobook Carmilla (starring David Tennant and Rose Leslie) which was nominated for an Audie award.

Links:

• Perfect Symphony Video
• IMDB Pro

Samples

Ed Sheeran Happier – Matt-Sheeran String Arrangement

Ed Sheeran Perfect – Matt-Sheeran String Arrangement

Ed Sheeran Save-Myself – Matt-Sheeran String Arrangement

Matt – Terry – When Christmas Comes Around – Matt-Sheeran String Arrangement