“Vilna Poems / Akoka: The End of Time / In Commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” read the title sheet of the Jewish Music Festival’s concert at Berkeley Repertory Theatre on Saturday. I didn’t get the connection. Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania. Quatuor pour la Fin du temps is a famous quartet by the French Catholic mystic Olivier Messiaen. So? Continue reading
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
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
An inventive cellist with an insatiable curiosity, Matt Haimovitz was playing Bach in nightclubs before (Le) Poisson Rouge was a glimmer in anyone’s eye; no wonder he’s gotten into the swim here instantly. Tonight he’s celebrating Continue reading
Figment
