Drawing on his early experience as a solo pop musician and, later, in classical artist management at Askonas Holt and Harrison Parrott, working with artists including Maxim Vengerov, Christian Tetzlaff, Stephen Hough and Alison Balsom, Matt Fretton started Ferus in 2005 in order to offer personal management and concert booking to a select group of classical musicians.
Matt also promoted and curated the event series This Isn’t For You, has worked as project manager for Janine Jansen, and concert agent for Julian Joseph, Gabriela Montero and Jaz Coleman (in association with Biglife Management).
Promoting his first concerts when he was fifteen, Matt went on to tour as the opening act for bands including Eurythmics, Depeche Mode, King Crimson, Gang of Four and Bob Geldof’s Boomtown Rats. As a solo act he recorded for Chrysalis Records in the early 1980s and subsequently started his own record label and recording studio, recording and producing music from pop to free jazz, and collaborating with the late Derek Jarman on a promotional film to accompany his first album.
Matt studied singing with Glynn Jones, Rufus Müller and Alan Ewing, composition with Barrington Pheloung, and was given a unique introduction to the world of classical song by Graham Johnson OBE.
