Biography
Matthew Raymond Origel, born in 2001, began playing the flute eleven years ago with Jill Heinke Moen in Silicon Valley, California. From a young age, Matthew upheld high standards for his success. He held principal flute positions in all his high school ensembles, in regional and all-state honor bands/orchestras, and also with the San Jose Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he had the honor of performing in the renowned Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2019. In addition to traditional ensemble playing, he also held high leadership positions in his high school’s award-winning marching band. The San Francisco Chronicle covered his school band’s participation in the worldwide New Years Rose Parade in Los Angeles, California, detailing that Matthew individually stood out in the program for “his intensity”.
Continuing his music education after high school, Matthew completed his Bachelor’s of Music in Flute Performance in 2023 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Herb Alpert School of Music under the tutelage of Denis Bouriakov, internationally-acclaimed flute soloist and principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. During his time at UCLA, Matthew held Principal positions in all of his school’s ensembles, premiered pieces composed by fellow UCLA peers as well as composers of the greater Los Angeles area, and in his second year, he won First Prize in the San Diego Flute Guild Collegiate Competition, competing against flutists from top music schools across the nation. In 2022, he spent two months on the East Coast of the United States at the Brevard Music Institute, where he played in the college division orchestra and also successfully auditioned onto the substitute flute list for the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida during their regional audition tour.
After recently completing his Bachelor’s studies, Matthew currently lives in Madrid, Spain, pursuing his Master’s of Music in Flute Performance on a full tuition scholarship at one of Europe’s most prestigious music institutions: Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía (Queen Sofía School of Music) under the instruction of legendary flutist and pedagogue Jacques Zoon, previous Principal Flutist of the Royal Concertgabow Orchestra in Amsterdam, Netherlands and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. While in his Master’s program so far, Matthew has had the immense honor of playing in orchestra with world-class soloists Maria Dueñas, Juan Diego Flores, and Lang Lang. This past summer of 2024, Matthew performed throughout Germany as a member of one of the most prestigious summer orchestral academies, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.
Matthew currently plays on a custom Haynes 14k rose gold flute with a sterling silver mechanism and a platinum headjoint.
Study with Matthew