Matt Herskowitz

Great performance flair and exquisite pianistic technique have led pianist Matt Herskowitz on a genre-bending musical exploration, incorporating classical idioms with jazz and world-music. Thanks to his “rare passion, precise sense of nuance” and “power, artistry and chops, along with a firm grasp of the daring needed for a great performance” (Le Devoir/ Downbeat), Matt has carved out a unique voice in his free style improvisations, arrangements and compositions. His prolific recording catalogue includes works as diverse as Glazunov’s 2nd Piano Concerto, released on the Chandos label, to the pianist’s “Solo-Album of the Year (Le Devoir)”: Matt Herskowitz Upstairs. A captivating array of arrangements of works from Gershwin to Schumann to Dave Brubeck, it includes original arrangements based on the classical canon by Herskowitz, like his Bach à la Jazz, his own arrangement on Bach’s Prelude in C Minor, previously released on the Grammy-nominated EMI soundtrack for The Triplets of Belleville, as well as two of his own compositions.
Upstairs follows Matt's critically-acclaimed, Juno-nominated world music fusion album Jerusalem Trilogy, also on Justin Time Records, 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 addition to Matt's trio, the album features violinist Lara St. John, cellist Mike Block, Nay and Oud virtuoso Bassam Saba, and flutist/soprano saxophonist Daniel Schnyder. Matt and his group have performed Jerusalem Trilogy all over the world, including concert halls and festivals in the US, Canada, Germany and Poland.
His 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, while his 2006 solo release, Gabriel's Message, featuring original arrangements and compositions based on Christmas themes, was nominated for Québec's Félix award for “Best Jazz Album.” Matt's 1998 recording of Glazunov's 2nd Piano Concerto with I Musici de Montréal (Chandos Records) was hailed by Strad Magazine as “by far the best performance on disc.” Matt recently recorded an album with violinist Lara St. John of original compositions and arrangements based on Eastern European folk songs. The recording includes one of Matt’s compositions, Nagilara, based on the famous Jewish folk song Hava Nagila, commissioned by Lara for the recording. The album is slated for release in the fall of 2015.
Premieres of Matt's compositions include his 2012 Concerto Grosso with The Knights, an eclectic New York-based symphony orchestra, in Central Park on the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts series. The concert was broadcast live on WQXR and Matt was lauded in The New York Times for his “imaginative, virtuosic solo in the highly entertaining piece.” In 2008, Herskowitz premiered his piano concerto, Undertow, with Absolute Ensemble, a cross-genre chamber orchestra who commissioned the work, at Germany's Musikfest Bremen. Loosely based on a Bach Invention, it was composed for their program Bach Reinvented. In 2009 he performed the piece with Absolute at the Köln Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany in a concert broadcast on WDR German television across Europe, followed by a tour of the US and Canada in 2011 and a performance at the Leipzig Bach Festival in 2013. The Globe and Mail in Toronto praised the piece, declaring “I would have been happy to hear the whole 20-minute piece repeated right away!” In his first musical theatre outing, Matt composed the music for Bella: The Colour of Love, starring and co-written by actress/singer/lyricist Theresa Tova. Matt and Tova gave the world premier performances at the Philadelphia International Festival for the Arts, who commissioned the work, in 2011. The play tells the story of Bella Chagall, wife, muse and great love of renowned artist Marc Chagall. Matt and Tova have since presented Bella in Warsaw, Halifax, New York and Toronto in a new production directed and choreographed by celebrated choreographer Danny Grossman.
As an arranger, Matt has collaborated with many noted artists and producers. In addition to his hugely popular Bach à la Jazz, Matt and his trio were featured on Barry Manilow's In The Swing of Christmas (Hallmark, 2007, Arista/Sony, 2009), which was nominated for a Grammy award for “Best Traditional Pop Album”. Matt's 17-minute solo Piano Nocturne was featured on pop diva Lara Fabian's album Nue (Universal, 2001), earning him many new thousands of fans in Europe. Among his other projects, Matt is in a new duo-piano group called Piano Chameleons with noted jazzman John Roney. The duo performs their original jazz arrangements of famous music by Bach, Chopin, Schumann, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, among others.
A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Matt is originally from Rensselaerville, New York, and has made Montreal his adopted home since 1999.   For more information on Matt Herskowitz, please visit mattherskowitz.com