Alongside his teaching work, Georges Mathias was a very active concert pianist.

He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris with François Bazin, Auguste Barbereau, Augustin Savard and Fromental Halévy.

[3] Among his notable students were Teresa Carreño, Camille Chevillard, Paul Dukas, Camille Erlanger, James Huneker, Henri O'Kelly, Isidor Philipp, Raoul Pugno, Alfonso Rendano, Erik Satie, Eugénie Satie-Barnetche, Ernest Schelling, Ernesto Elorduy, José Tragó and Alberto Williams.

Mathias and Karol Mikuli, another student of Chopin, significantly influenced the way their teacher's style was communicated to later generations of musicians.

On 14 March 1864, he was the principal pianist at the premiere of Gioachino Rossini's Petite messe solennelle.