Biography

Matthew Raymond Origel (b. 2001) began playing the flute twelve years ago in Silicon Valley, California. From a young age, Matthew pursued musical excellence. He held principal flute positions in all his high school ensembles, in local and all-state honor bands and 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.

Continuing his music education after high school, Matthew completed his Bachelor 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, acclaimed international 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 from the greater Los Angeles area, 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 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.

Since September 2023, Matthew has resided in Madrid, Spain, pursuing his Master of Music in Flute Performance at one of the world’s most prestigious music institutions, the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía (Reina Sofía School of Music). He studies under the guidance of legendary flutist and pedagogue Jacques Zoon, former Principal Flutist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. While in his master’s program, Matthew has performed in orchestra with world-class soloists Maria Dueñas, Juan Diego Flórez, and Lang Lang.

In the summer of 2024, Matthew performed throughout Germany for two months with a leading orchestral academy, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, giving concerts in major halls such as the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In December 2024, Matthew played as a soloist with the Escuela Reina Sofía Chamber Orchestra during their Holiday Series Concerts, which included performances in northern Spain and in the historic Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. In November 2025, Matthew played Principal Flute with the Escuela Reina Sofía Orchestra under the baton of world-renowned conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada in Carnegie Hall in New York.

Listen to Matthew here