Mathias, pianist and composer
Mathias studied the piano at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and under NEA Jazz Master Joanne Brackeen in Boston. He was a Fulbright grantee and a winner of a competition arranged by the John Coltrane Foundation in the US, where he performed with Carlitos del Puerto (Chick Corea), Ian Wallace (King Crimson), and recorded with orchestra at the Newman Scoring Stage. Mathias completed his Masters degree at the University of Southern California, where he held a Quincy Jones merit scholarship. He has performed at several distinguished events, including for former US president Bill Clinton and at the home of Quincy Jones.
Mathias also holds a degree in mathematics (with philosophy) from the University of Oxford and runs an NGO for music education in Cambodia. He is currently professor at Phnom Penh International Institute of the Arts, where he has taught the first pianists and composers to study for their Masters in Cambodia. He was recently invited to perform Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto with the Phnom Penh Symphony Orchestra, based at the institute. Mathias is passionate about music education and the way in which music awakens the imagination and enriches the life of the mind.
Fragment of a painting by Beatriz Milhazes