January 23, 2012

Cellist Matt Haimovitz and pianist Christopher O’Riley team up for Shuffle.Play.Listen in concert from McGill University, Montreal.

Cellist Matt Haimovitz has long been at the forefront of bridging the divide between the camps of classical and popular music, covering the likes of Jimi Hendrix and bringing Bach to rock clubs—before playing rock clubs was cool for classical types. Christopher O’Riley is an American classical pianist and public radio show host of the weekly National Public Radio program From the Top. He is also known for his piano arrangements of songs by alternative artists.

In September 2011, Haimovitz and O’Riley released Shuffle.Play.Listen on Oxingale Records. The two-CD set juxtaposes 20th-century classics by Stravinsky, Janáček, Martinů, Piazzolla and Bernard Herrmann with bold arrangements by Christopher O’Riley of art-rock songs by the likes of Radiohead and Arcade Fire and the jazz-rock of John McLaughlin.

Shuffle.Play.Listen

This Montreal performance was part of a North American tour of Shuffle.Play.Listen and is based on the content on the recording with new material constantly added to the mix. As at other tour appearances, the artists decided on the programme the day of the concert. The concert also features Fancy on a Bach Air, a new work by American composer John Corigliano, written especially for Matt Haimovitz.

Listen here: CBC Music