Appleby Matthews

Who was Appleby Matthews?

Thomas Appleby Matthews was an English conductor and organist, the son of George Matthews and his wife Rebecca Clarson Bonas.

He served as organist of St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham. He supported Rutland Boughton at his Glastonbury Festivals and conducted performances of The Immortal Hour and Bethlehem.

In 1920, he became the first conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra, today's City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He conducted an incomplete public performance of Gustav Holst's The Planets suite in Birmingham that same year on 10 October. Only five movements were played.

He conducted the orchestra in the Paris premiere of Beni Mora on 31 October 1922, the first performance given of any of Holst's works in that capital.