Matt Haimovitz (Cello / Israel)
BIOGRAPHY

Renowned as a musical pioneer, cellist Matt Haimovitz is praised by The New York Times asa “ferociously talented cellist who brings his megawatt sound and uncommon expressive gifts
to a vast variety of styles” and by The New Yorker as “remarkable virtuoso” who “never turns
in a predictable performance.” He has inspired classical music lovers and countless newlisteners by bringing his artistry to concert halls and clubs, outdoor festivals and intimate
coffee houses – any place where passionate music can be heard. He brings a fresh ear tofamiliar repertoire, champions new music, and initiates groundbreaking collaborations, aswell as creating innovative recording projects. Besides his relentless touring schedule, hementors an award-winning studio of young cellists at McGill University’s Schulich School ofMusic in Montreal.
Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of 13, as soloist with Zubin Mehta and theIsrael Philharmonic. At 17 he made his first recording with James Levine and the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, for Deutsche Grammophon. He has gone on to perform on the world’s
most esteemed stages, with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic withJames Levine, the New York Philharmonic with Zubin Mehta, the English Chamber
Orchestra with Daniel Barenboim, the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin,and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal with Kent Nagano. Haimovitz made hisCarnegie Hall debut when he substituted for his teacher, the legendary Leonard Rose, in
Schubert’s String Quintet in C, alongside Isaac Stern, Shlomo Mintz, Pinchas Zukerman andMstislav Rostropovich.
The solo cello recital is a Haimovitz trademark, both inside and outside the concert hall. In
2000, he made waves with his Bach “Listening-Room” Tour, for which, to great acclaim,
Haimovitz took Bach’s beloved cello suites out into the clubs across the U.S., Canada, and theU.K. Haimovitz’s 50-state Anthem tour in 2003 celebrated living American composers andfeatured the cellist’s own arrangement of Jimi Hendrix’s “Star-Spangled Banner.” He was thefirst classical artist to play at New York’s infamous CBGB club, in a performance filmed byABC News for Nightline UpClose.
In 2015 he revisited the Bach cello suites with the release of The Cello Suites According toAnna Magdalena for the PENTATONE Oxingale series, inspired and informed by anauthoritative manuscript by Anna Magdalena and performed on period instruments. Thisseason, he takes his profound new interpretation even further with the release of Overtures
to Bach, six new commissions that anticipate and reflect each of the cello suites. The newovertures by Philip Glass, Du Yun, Vijay Iyer, Roberto Sierra, David Sanford, and Luna Pearl
Woolf, expand upon the multitude of spiritual, cross-cultural, and vernacular references
found in the Bach, building a bridge from the master’s time to our own. The new recording
will be released internationally on the PENTATONE Oxingale series in August and launchedin Berlin, followed by performances in New York City, Montreal, and numerous other US
cities this season.
Other highlights this season include concerti with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal,
the Atlanta Symphony, and Tokyo’s New Japan Philharmonic. Matt will also lead theDeutsche Kammerphilharmonie at the Berlin Philharmonie, and perform a concerto by Isang
Yun – marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Korean composer and politicalprisoner – with the Bruckner Orchestra with Dennis Russel Davies on tour in Austria. Hewill also perform several solo recitals at festivals in Germany.

Haimovitz’s recording career encompasses more than 20 years of award-winning work on
Deutche Grammophon and his and composer/producer Luna Pearl Woolf’s own trailblazing
independent label Oxingale Records, now in collaboration with PENTATONE. Two recent
Oxingale albums have been nominated for Juno Awards and a third, Meeting of the Spirits,
was nominated for a GRAMMY® for Best Classical Crossover Album and won a GRAMMY®
for Best Producer of the Year (Classical). BEETHOVEN, Period, a traversal of the Beethoven
Sonatas and Variations for Piano and Cello on period instruments with Christopher O’Riley
was an Editor’s Choice pick, and one of the top-10 Beethoven albums of recent times, atGramophone Magazine. 2015 also saw the release of ORBIT, an expansive 3-SACD
compilation of Haimovitz’ solo cello work. Haimovitz’s recording of Philip Glass’s Cello
Concerto No. 2, “Naqoyqatsi,” with the Cincinnati Symphony and Dennis Russell Davies,
recorded live in Cincinnati, has received universal acclaim. A new solo cello album featuring
the music of Philip Glass will be released in 2017 to coincide with the composer’s 80thbirthday.
In 2006, Haimovitz received the Concert Music Award from ASCAP for his advocacy of living
composers and pioneering spirit, and in 2004, the American Music Center awarded Haimovitz
the Trailblazer Award, for his far-reaching contributions to American music. Born in Israel,
Haimovitz has also been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1986), the Grand Prix
du Disque (1991), the Diapason d’Or (1991) and he is the first cellist ever to receive theprestigious Premio Internazionale “Accademia Musicale Chigiana” (1999). Haimovitz studied
at the Collegiate School in New York and at the Juilliard School, in the final class of Leonard
Rose, after which he continued his cello studies with Ronald Leonard and Yo-Yo Ma. In 1996,
he received a B.A. magna cum laude with highest honors from Harvard University. Matt
Haimovitz plays a Venetian cello, made in 1710 by Matteo Gofriller.