Thomas Appleby Matthews was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 and organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

, 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

Rutland Boughton

Rutland Boughton was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music....

 at his Glastonbury Festivals (1914–1925) 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

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra

The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...

. He conducted an incomplete public performance of Gustav Holst

Gustav Holst

Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....

's The Planets

The Planets

The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...

suite in Birmingham that same year on 10 October. Only five movements (Mars, Venus, Mercury, Saturn and Jupiter) 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.