Virtuoso cellist Matt Haimovitz has made a career of bringing classical music to people who don’t hear it much. In the mid-’90s, having played as soloist with major orchestras in venues like Carnegie Hall, the Israeli-born, American-raised musician got frustrated with the narrowness of classical-music culture and the kind of career typically Continue reading
Celebrating the 300th birthday of his cello, the concert adventurer Matt Haimovitz returned to Seattle’s Tractor Tavern Wednesday night for a one-man show that sold out the bar. Some 250 seated and standing fans filled the funky place where Haimovitz performed Hendrix not so long ago, backed by a band of students, to plug his CD “Anthem.” This time, he’s touring Continue reading
H. Thomson
Country, hip-hop, metal—cobblers in certain genres pretty much stick to their lasts and aren’t known for exploring music outside their boundaries. (Go ahead, deny it. With counterexamples.) The musicians with the broadest tastes and most ravenous curiosities tend to be rooted in classical—naturally enough, since the term itself covers about a millennium of music. Setting the standard is cellist Matt Haimovitz, who plays, basically, everything everywhere: Bach to Led Zeppelin, Continue reading
Photo by Martin Laporte
The Tractor Tavern’s stage is no stranger to vintage instruments, but for Matt Haimovitz, the notion of a classic ax takes on a decidedly longer perspective.
The cello virtuoso, who has spent the past decade bringing Bach, Britten, Hindemith and Webern to rock clubs, nightspots, restaurants and dives, is celebrating the 300th anniversary of his instrument, which was built in 1710 by Venetian luthier Matteo Goffriller (who’s to cellos what Stradivarius is to violins). Continue reading
Former Valley resident Matt Haimovitz, who has since departed for Montreal, takes the classical cello to places it’s seldom, maybe never seen. The first track is a highly unusual mash-up of acoustic cello, electronic beats, record scratching and sampled segments of strange musical talk. The friction has perhaps only one musical cousin: Continue reading
1. Various artists, “Les Urnes de L’Opera” (EMI Classics)
2. Gidon Kremer and Kremerata Baltica, “Mozart: The Complete Violin Continue reading
In a career spanning 25 years, cellist Matt Haimovitz has grown from a winsome lad of 13, making his debut with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, to an institution, noted both as a concert artist and solo recitalist. However, unlike many institutions, Haimovitz has never allowed himself to fossilize, and Continue reading
Photo by Martin Laporte
Crossover poster boy and McGill University prof, Matt Haimovitz will happily clamp a mike on his 1710 Gofriller cello and play it in clubs that don’t normally serve Brahms. His recent Figment tour included a stop at one of his favourite dives, the Black Sheep Inn in Continue reading
Photo by Martin Laporte
Le violoncelliste Matt Haimovitz et sa partenaire, la compositrice Luna Pearl Woolf, réinventent le rituel du concert avec la nouvelle vocation d’eXcentris. Air frais.
J’ai rencontré Matt Haimovitz pour la première fois en 2006, alors qu’il venait de faire paraître son disque Goulash! (Oxingale Records), sur lequel il joue avec le grand guitariste jazz-rock John McLaughlin, l’ensemble de musique méditerranéenne Constantinople et DJ Olive, entre autres. On trouve sur ce disque du Bartók et du Ligeti, mais aussi du Led Zeppelin Continue reading
Photo by Martin Laporte
The exciting eccentricities of November’s classical music programming at eXcentris
McGill music professor and renowned cellist Matt Haimovitz—who now adds artistic advisor and artist-in-residence at the recently repurposed eXcentris to his CV—has made it his mission to expand the parameters of classical music, what it is and who it’s played for. In that spirit, his latest album, Figment, covers a good part of Continue reading
