Matthew Ruddy is a professional saxophonist, musician and graduate from both Glasgow Clyde College and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Since Matthew was at primary school, he had a growing passion to play an instrument. Matthew was part of a ceilidh school where he played the tin whistle and the banjo. He would practice with them once a week and would take part in the festivals in Coatbridge on St Patricks Day. This took place from 2009 – 2011, until he went to secondary school.
When Matthew started secondary school, he took up saxophone and piano. However, it was not until 2013 when he started to excel with his saxophone abilities, and he began to have a passion for performing. He would take part in North Lanarkshire’s Schools Wind Ensemble rehearsals on a weekly basis. This allowed him to play two major concerts on an annual basis, one at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, and one at Motherwell Civic Centre.

In 2014, Matthew’s first experience in the gig world was playing in his local Showcase Cinema. He performed there twice a week in the hall for people for one year from May 2014 until May 2015. He was not paid, however he was allowed to go and see films once a week with his friends for free. After building up repertoire and experience here, he moved onto playing his first paid piano gigs in Braehead shopping centre and Mar Hall Golf and Spa Resort. It wasn’t until around 2017 that Matthew started to perform with his saxophone.

Matthew was a student at Glasgow Clyde college from 2017-2019 where he gained a HND in music. During this time, he built up his experience playing saxophone gigs in various restaurants and bars in Glasgow such as the Ivy and Princes Square.

Immediately after this in 2020, he began studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Around this time, the coronavirus pandemic hit, and all his previous forms of income were lost. After being 18 months out of work, Matthew was eventually able to make a return to gigging with the rise of the Ibiza sax trend. This was usually in the form of playing alongside DJs in clubs, at weddings or at functions. This was his primary income while he studied. After 4 years of studying at the conservatoire, he graduated with a Bachelor of Music Performance with Honours.

Now that his education is complete, Matthew has started writing his own music and has taken up singing. This forthcoming album combines all that he has learned from his previous years and puts it neatly into one collection of a genre defining album.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• TikTok

.