Matthew Hadgraft

Matthew Hadgraft started piano lessons at around age 7 with Gwen Ward, who ultimately suggested auditioning for the choir of St John’s Cathedral Brisbane. There he “apprenticed” with Dr Robert Boughen and, at Anglican Church Grammar School, started piano lessons with Arthur Do Rozario. As though he wasn’t already under the influence of world-class musicians, the head of Music at ACGS was Dr Ralph Morton, who would also prove a lasting and deeply influential figure. Ralph persuaded Matt to continue piano for the Performance extension program which qualified him to attend Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University, studying piano with John Winther and Kayo Asahina.

Had Matt only practiced, he would never have had to complete his degree with Musicology as his major and Theory his minor study. To make up for lost time, he then studied his AMusA and AMusTCL with Alan Moffat. He never sat his LTCL on piano and eventually studied primary education at ACU, largely thanks to an effusive recommendation and choral scholarship from Ralph Morton, who was at that time organist at St Stephen’s Cathedral.

Upon completing his studies, Matt resumed singing at St John’s Cathedral, supplementing a highly liturgical musical diet with an ABBA tribute show and various amateur dramatic roles – and a lone professional musical (Cabaret, ZenZenZo, 2011 – Cliff Bradshaw.)

Matt moved to Melbourne in 2012 to pursue further performance opportunities, where he accepted an organ scholarship at St George’s Malvern with Christopher Cook. He later joined the choir of St Mark’s Fitzroy with Dr Geoffrey Cox and followed Chris Cook to St John’s Toorak, gratefully giving up organ in the process owing to its difficulty.

In Melbourne Matt is better known as the writer and performer of cabarets featuring the music of Peter Allen and Elton John, his obstreperous approach to Piano Bar, his raucous MC style, and his solo cabarets for which he insists he must compose all the music from scratch. He also wrote jingles for a media company: a job requiring the ability to write tunes that get stuck in your head.