Buchholz began his musical training in Hamburg 和 继续d his studies at the University of Cincinnati, in Detmold, 和 at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He was a laureate of the important prizes at international viola competitions in Bonn (1978), Los Angeles (1981) 和 Budapest (1984). Since 1976, Buchholz has given concerts as a soloist 和 in a variety of ensembles such as the American String Quartet 和 the Auryn Quartet in Europe, North 和 South America, 和 in the Far East. Since 1991, he has been a member of the Linos-Ensemble, recording 和 touring throughout Europe 和 Southeast Asia.
From 2003 until 2008 he was a founding member of the Heine-Quartett, which performed the world premiere of the “Adagio für Streichquartett”, dedicated to Robert Schumann by Aribert Reimann at the Düsseldorfer Schumannfest 2006.
Beginning in 1986, Matthias Buchholz was principal viola with the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra until in 1990 he was appointed professor of viola at the Hochschule für Musik Köln, one of the world’s foremost performing arts schools 和 one of the largest music institutions for higher education in Europe. Subsequently he has been invited to hold masterclasses in Europe as well as in the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, China 和 South Korea. In 2013 he was nominated professeur d’alto at the HEM Geneve following Nobuko Imai.
He is a frequent guest recitals 和 to international concerts 和 festivals for chamber-music such as Avignon, 科隆, 柏林, Marlboro, Hitzacker, 里昂, Schleswig–Holstein, 渥太华, Salzburg, Mondsee 和 Russia.