Like his Soviet friend, the composer Dmitry Kabalevsky, he was passionate about creating quality musical performance ensembles for young people.
His wife Faina, who had studied with him at the Gnessin College, played violin with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
[2] He was also conductor of the Strathfield Symphony Orchestra from 1987 to 1994 where he instigated a short lived young performers concerto competition (1987–1988).
[1] Under Krel's baton, the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra performed the Australian premieres of Franz Liszt's newly discovered Piano Concerto No.3 (with pianist Roman Rudnytsky), Respighi's Belkis, Queen of Sheba,[4] Elena Kats-Chernin's Wild Swans Suite,[5] and other works.
[2] His funeral was held on 25 May at Temple Emanuel, Sydney, and it featured a piece for string quartet called Consolation in Memory of Matthew Krel, written for the occasion by his friend Elena Kats-Chernin.