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.

Continuing his musical education after high school, Matthew earned his Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance in 2023 from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Herb Alpert School of Music, studying under Denis Bouriakov—acclaimed international flute soloist and principal flute of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 

During his time at UCLA, he held principal positions in all of his ensembles, premiered works by fellow students and by 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 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 during the orchestra's regional audition tour. 

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; 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. 

This fall, Matthew will move to the lovely, green city of Freiburg, Germany, to attend the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg, where he will pursue a Master of Music in Flute Performance under pioneering soloist and sought-after pedagogue Mario Caroli. He looks forward to all that lies ahead at this distinguished institution.

Listen to Matthew here

Book your trial lesson here