Noël au piano avec Matt Herskowitz
Sutton Encore presents

Noël au piano avec Matt Herskowitz

In-person Event
December 16th 2022
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm / Doors: 7:00 pm

4-C Rue Maple, Sutton, QC, Canada
For more information about this event, please contact LA SAG (Salle Alec et Gérard Pelletier) at info@suttonencore.com.

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Matt Herskowitz

Uniquely combining the superlative technique of a classical virtuoso with his prowess in jazz,  world music and free improvisation, pianist, composer and arranger Matt Herskowitz has  carved out a unique and personal voice in music. Over the course of the last decade, Matt has  produced a series of critically-acclaimed recordings, premiered his works in settings from New  York's Central Park to Germany's Köln Philharmonie, collaborated with top classical, jazz and  pop artists, and has performed at music festivals across the globe. 

A graduate of The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, Matt is originally from  Rensselaerville, New York, and has made Montreal his home since 1999. A classical pianist for  over 20 years, Matt’s interest in jazz began while studying at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia,  where he ‘apprenticed’ with seasoned jazz musicians performing in bars and jazz clubs. At age  30, Matt moved to Montreal and decided to focus on jazz, with a detour into pop music along  the way with the celebrated pop diva Lara Fabian. His focus soon shifted to his own  compositions, combining his experience in jazz, pop and “World” music with his skills in  contemporary classical composition and performance. But his love for classical music never left  him, and in 2013 he began making arrangements of Bach, Schumann and Chopin in a variety of  jazz styles, all while retaining the integrity of the original pieces, something uniquely suited to  him as being equally versed in both genres. 

Matt’s latest solo project, Chopin - Etudes en jazz, features his exciting new vision of Chopin’s  great masterpieces, weaving jazz language and improvisation into Chopin’s original music. This  project was filmed during a concert at Salle Bourgie in Montreal last year and is now available  on Medici.tv.  

Matt’s last solo album release, Mirror Image (Justin Time Records, 2019), is a unique and  personal exploration/reconciliation of his classical and jazz alter-egos, with pieces by Ravel,  Satie, Schubert and Gottschalk, as well as several original compositions. Mirror Image has  already received wide critical acclaim, and is consistently ranked a favourite among progressive  jazz stations in the US and Canada. His 2012 solo release, Matt Herskowitz Upstairs (Justin Time,  2012), was featured in Downbeat Magazine’s Editor’s picks: “Throughout these eight tracks,  [Herskowitz] displays touch, power, artistry and chops along with a firm grasp of the daring  needed for a great performance.” Upstairs follows Matt's critically-acclaimed, Juno-nominated  World music fusion album Jerusalem Trilogy (Justin Time, 2010) which features the pianist's  original compositions and arrangements in his signature synthesis of contemporary jazz and 

classical styles, combined with a unique blend of Arab and Jewish grooves. Among the album's  fans was the late great Dave Brubeck, who commended Matt on the recording, saying:  “Congratulations! You have transformed the concept of ‘World’ music as I conceived of it half a  century ago. You have carried it further than I could imagine.”  

In 2017 Matt was featured on the BBC show Music Matters: Spirit of Bach to discuss his  innovative arrangements of Bach, which can be heard on his albums Bach XXI (Avanti Classic,  2015) and Bach Reimagined (Enja Records, 2018). In 2009, Matt premiered his piano concerto,  Undertow, with Absolute Ensemble, a cross-genre chamber orchestra who commissioned the  work, at the Köln Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany in a concert broadcast on WDR German  television across Europe. After a performance in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, the Globe and Mail  wrote: “Pianist Matt Herskowitz's 'Undertow' took the F-minor Sinfonia, the spookiest of all the  Inventions, and rode its sliding bass line through a secret-agent opening, a section of rugged  math-rock that had me thinking of King Crimson, and a grand passacaglia that drew out the  tragic implications of Bach's original. It ended on the brink of a high tutti cadence, and I would  have been happy to hear the whole 20-minute piece repeated right away.” Matt’s 2007 solo  release, Matt Herskowitz Plays George Gershwin, featuring Matt's original solo arrangements of  the Concerto in F, Cuban Overture and Rhapsody in Blue, was nominated for Quebec's prestigious  Prix Opus, and has received accolades from jazz and classical critics alike. 

As an arranger, Matt has collaborated with many noted artists and producers. In addition to his  hugely popular Bach à la Jazz, which he arranged and performed for the animated film The  Triplets of Belleville, Matt and his trio were featured on Barry Manilow's In The Swing of Christmas,  which was nominated for a Grammy award for “Best Traditional Pop Album”. Matt has also  collaborated with pop diva Lara Fabian, earning thousands of new fans from his solo piano  piece, Piano Nocturne, on Lara’s album Nue (Polydor/Universal, 2001). Several of their songs  have been recorded and performed by various French pop artists, including Nolwenn Leroy,  Daniel Levi and George Perris.

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