Biography

Matthew Raymond Origel (b. 2001) began playing the flute at age 12 in Silicon Valley, California. From a young age, Matthew pursued musical excellence, holding principal flute positions in all of his high school ensembles, in local and all-state honor bands and orchestras, and with the San Jose Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom he had the honor of performing at the renowned Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2019.

He went on to earn his Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance in 2023 from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, studying under Denis Bouriakov, acclaimed international flute soloist and principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At UCLA he held principal positions in all of his ensembles, premiered works by fellow students and Los Angeles-area composers, and, in his second year, 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 at the Brevard Music Center, where he studied with world-class flutist Amy Porter, played in the college-division orchestra, and earned a place on the substitute flute list for the New World Symphony in Miami.

From 2023 to 2026, Matthew lived in Madrid, Spain, where he earned an Artist Diploma at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía under the guidance of the legendary flutist and pedagogue Jacques Zoon, former principal flute of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. There he performed as a soloist with the Escuela Reina Sofía Chamber Orchestra, including concerts in northern Spain and at the historic Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. He also played principal flute with the Escuela Reina Sofía Orchestra under world-renowned conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada at Carnegie Hall in New York, and took part in the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, one of the leading summer orchestral academies, giving concerts in major halls including the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In 2025, his woodwind quintet was awarded the diploma for most outstanding wind group by Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain, and in 2026 he received a further diploma from Queen Sofía as the most outstanding student in the flute class.

In September 2026, Matthew performed piccolo and flute with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Philippe Jordan at the Hollywood Bowl. He now lives in Freiburg, where he is pursuing his Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg with pioneering flute soloist Mario Caroli. Drawing on his training in the United States, Spain, and Germany, Matthew teaches students of all ages and levels in both English and German, with a focus on solid technique, beautiful sound, and each player’s individual musical voice.

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