Christopher O'Riley

Acclaimed for his engaging and deeply committed performances, pianist Christopher O'Riley

is known to millions as the host of NPR's From the Top. His repertoire spans a kaleidoscopic

array of music from the pre-baroque to the present-day. He performs around the world and

has garnered widespread praise for his untiring efforts to reach new audiences.

Now in his fifteenth year on air, O'Riley introduces the next generation of classical 

music stars to almost a million listeners each week on From the Top. He has also hosted the

Emmy Award-winning television series From the Top at Carnegie Hall and collaborated with

Yo-Yo Ma, Bobby McFerrin, Midori, Bela Fleck, Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Sir James Galway,

Michael Feinstein, and many others.

O'Riley has performed as a soloist with virtually every major American orchestra, 

including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philadelphia 

Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony.

He led the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on a two-week tour of ten American cities, 

performed Henryk Gorecki and Michael Daugherty's Le Tombeau de Liberace in a series of 

concerts with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and toured the United Kingdom with the 

Moscow Philharmonic. He has worked with such renowned conductors as Alan Gilbert,

David Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Neeme Jarvi, Marin Alsop, Semyon Bychkov, and Hugh

Wolff, and he has performed recitals throughout North America, Europe, and Australia.

O'Riley has received the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant and an equally coveted

four-star review from Rolling Stone magazine. He strives to introduce new audiences to classical music by performing piano arrangements of music by Radiohead, Elliott Smith, Pink

Floyd, and Nirvana, alongside traditional classical repertoire at such diverse venues as the

Istanbul Jazz Festival, Highline Ballroom (New York), the Knitting Factory (Los Angeles),

and South by Southwest (Austin, Texas).

O'Riley has developed a number of projects combining music and literature and

composed scores for works of Mark Z. Danielewski and Kris Saknussemm. Most recently, 

he collaborated with choreographer Martha Clarke on Vers la Flamme, a dance production

based on short stories of Anton Chekhov and set to the music of Alexander Scriabin; it

was performed at Lincoln Center, the American Dance Festival, Jacob's Pillow Festival, and

the Kennedy Center. A prolific recording artist, O'Riley has recorded on the Sony Classical,

Oxingale Records, RCA Red Seal, Decca, and Harmonia Mundi labels.

Cover Marc Chagall, Cellist of the Village (detail), 1970, National Gallery of Art, Washington,

Rosenwald Collection

75TH SEASON

OF CONCERTS

APRIL 30, 2017 • NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
PROGRAM

3:30 • West Building, East Garden Court

Matt Haimovitz, cello

Christopher O'Riley, piano

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975)

Sonata for Violincello and Piano in D Minor, op. 40

Allegro non troppo

Allegro

Largo

Allegro

Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953)

Sonata for Violincello and Piano in C Major, op. 119

Andante grave

Moderato

Allegro ma non troppo

Intermission

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)

Sonata in G Minor, op. 19

Lento — Allegro moderato

Allegro scherzando 

Andante

Allegro mosso

The Musicians

Matt Haimovitz

Renowned as a musical pioneer, cellist Matt Haimovitz has inspired classical music lovers

and countless new listeners by bringing his artistry to concert halls and clubs, outdoor

festivals and intimate coffeehouses, and any place where passionate music can be heard.

He brings a fresh ear to familiar repertoire, champions new music, initiates groundbreaking

collaborations, and creates innovative recording projects. Besides his relentless touring schedule, Haimovitz mentors an award-winning studio of young cellists at McGill University's

Schulich School of Music in Montreal.

Haimovitz made his debut in 1984, at the age of thirteen, as soloist with Zubin Mehta

and the Israel Philharmonic. At seventeen, he made his first recording with James Levine

and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has performed on the world's most esteemed 

stages with such orchestras and conductors as the Berlin Philharmonic with James 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 Montreal with Kent Nagano. Haimovitz made his Carnegie 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, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Haimovitz's recording career encompasses more than twenty years of award-winning

work. Two recent albums on the Oxingale Records label have been nominated for Juno Awards,

and a third, Meeting of the Spirits, was nominated for a Grammy Award 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 at Gramophone Magazine.

In 2006, Haimovitz received ASCAP's Concert Music Award for his advocacy of living composers and his 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, he has been honored with the Avery Fisher Career Grant (1986), the Grand Prix du

Disque (1991), and the Diapason d'Or (1991). He is the first cellist ever to receive the prestigious Premio Internazionale "Accademia Musicale Chigiana" (1999). Haimovitz studied

at the Collegiate School in New York and at the Juilliard School, and in 1996, he received his

bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.

Matt Haimovitz plays on a Giovanni Grancino of Milan cello

(c. 1695-1700) graciously provided to him by the company

CANIMEX INC. from Drummondville (Quebec) Canada.