Mathias Coppens (1988) is a Belgian pianist-composer who explores diverse musical landscapes and is interested in blending avant-garde experiment and dramatic narratives with tonal richness and emotional depth in his kaleidoscopic concert works. The style of his albums fuses contemporary classical and jazz, indie pop, folk, art rock and cinematic textures, producing a personal fusion of electronic manipulation with acoustical virtuosity. He loves to collaborate with directors in theatre and film, searching for sonic textures that intertwine with the storytelling. His music for contemporary dance has been described as ‘lively’ (the Independent), ‘original’ (Broadway World UK), ‘unexpectedly lyrical’ (The American), ‘soulful’ (Seeing Dance).
Recent engagements include a commission for the Royal Ballet of Birmingham, in collaboration with choreographer Miguel Altunaga, premiered in June 2021 at the Repertory Theatre in Birmingham. After a successful London premiere at Sadler's Wells the piece is now streaming on Marquee TV. Recently his orchestral piece ‘The Head of the Lion Has Many Colors’ was played during the opening of the KMSKA, the Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp. More recently a new music theatre piece premiered, commissioned by Antwerp-based contemporary ensemble I Solisti and theater company Johnny MUS. Additionally, the International Guitar Competition of Antwerp commissioned Mathias to compose their mandatory competition piece, entitled ‘Memories from a forgotten childhood’ which premiered in November. Furthermore, Mathias is a devoted chamber music composer; his piece ‘Testimonies of the Unseen’ for cello and piano was recorded this year in Concertgebouw Brugge by international soloist Justus Grimm.
In April 2024, ‘Minerals,’ which is an interactive concert experience developed by visual programmer Klaas Verpoest and game designer Menno Buggenhout, will be performed in deSingel, Antwerp and Schouwburg Concertzaal Tilburg with Bryggen Brugge Strings. For next season a new chamber music piece will be premiered by Ryelandt Trio: ‘Into the MetaModernism’ in Amuz, Antwerp.
As composer in residence and co-founder of deCompagnie, Mathias has some exciting projects coming up next season. Firstly, he will work together with theater company Lazarus and puppetry theater De Maan on a contemporary adaptation of the classic story of Faust. He will also make a new interpretation of the themes in Brave New World for the Flemish Radio Choir. Another recent project includes scoring the documentary Colliding Forces directed by Eliza Schroeder, featuring dancers from Houston Ballet, New York City Ballet, Royal Ballet, English National Ballet and Tokyo Ballet.
Mathias performs regularly as a lied-accompanist, in duo with sopranos Laurence Servaes and Zofia Hanna and in different chamber music series and dance productions. As a composer he has written for some leading Belgian and Dutch ensembles/orchestras such as ‘I Solisti’, Bl!ndman, Brussels Philharmonic, Asko-Schönberg Ensemble, Atlas Ensemble, Hermes Ensemble, Mosa Trio, Kugoni Trio, CASCO Phil, Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, Desguin Quartet, Ryelandt Trio, Spiegel Quartet and London based group Kaleidoscope Chamber Music Collective. He has recorded film music in Los Angeles at Capitol Studios, Warner Brothers, East-West, and Studio Bigale in Florence, and Masterchord in London, and Dada Studios in Brussels.
Mathias has released several albums, most recently The Wedding, and In Memoriam the Myth of the Mountain Shell’s Blossoming Rebirth in the Garden of the World. He has also released albums of original music under heteronyms with deCompagnie under the label Phaedra, and he played piano in Antwerp-based ensemble TetraGonist which recorded an album featuring the Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps of Messiaen under the label Aliud. They also performed the Quatuor on the exact location where Messiaen composed it during the second world war. Lastly, Mathias was artistic director and founder of ‘The Piano Festival,’ which had two editions in Amuz, Antwerp. It was a two day festival featuring music for keyboards from the early Baroque through analog synthesizers, masterclasses, and concerts of classical music and cross-cultural collaborations in the hall and in educational concerts in the community. He is also co-founder of Lab Summer Class, a week-long master class and festival focusing on mentoring emerging musicians which already had three editions in Germany, Italy and Portugal.
Mathias graduated with the highest distinction for master’s in piano and composition under the supervision of Levente Kende and Wim Henderickx, respectively, at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and graduated with a master’s in composition with ‘excellence’ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam where his teachers were Willem Jeths and Wim Henderickx. Mathias graduated with a master’s in screen scoring from University of Southern California where his professors were Bruce Broughton, Christopher Young, among others. He was support by the Belgian American Educational Foundation to attend USC on a full scholarship.
Mathias lives in Antwerp and Los Angeles. He is currently Professor of Composition at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp where he also teaches a course on composition for film and games.
