Through the Opera Glasses - 60 - Scotia Festival of Music - Cellist Matt Haimovitz in Recital

This past Friday I had a little sip from the nectar of the gods when my mom picked me up after work, we went out for dinner and then settled into our seats for a cello recital.

Halifax is currently in its second week of hosting the Scotia Festival of Music. With my mom being a new cello student, she bought herself a senior's pass to the festival and has been attending open dress rehearsals and master classes (where audiences can observe advanced students taking class from master teachers.)

For a treat, she snagged the tickets to Friday night's packed performance at The Music Room, a newer venue I'd never been to before and absolutely adored.


There we sat enraptured by a solo performance by Matt Haimovitz. Mom had watched him give a master class earlier in the week, and pointed out the young musician he'd been teaching, who joined Friday night's audience along with quite a number of young musicians.



Photo by Bette Marshall


For some folks, kicking back after a long week at work means heading for the pub for a couple of draft beer. For others, meeting for coffee and conversation does the trick, or gathering for drinks at a soothing dark bar.

For me - other than grabbing a bite and going to see a movie, which is the other perfect thing to do - going for dinner and then to see a concert or dance performance is the closest thing to heaven I can find.

Halifax music critic Stephen Pedersen wrote in The Chronicle Herald:

"Cellist Matt Haimovitz goes his own way.

That is true of all the Scotia Festival of Music master artists, in a way. But Friday night, in his solo recital in The Music Room, Haimovitz carved his path so expertly and with such unhesitating self-confidence and momentum that he could be said to have graded it, widened it, paved it and invited the sold-out audience to roll along down its broad avenue with him.

His Bach was a masterful, unique, almost unimaginably right performance in which, rather than maintain a steady pulse, he went with the flow, following the dynamic curve of each passage, revealing the architectural design of each of its six movements, echoing the improvisational style he had so cleverly set up with the Gabrieli earlier in the program."

Here's a little peek at what we enjoyed:





Apprentice Writer says That artist photo in B&W is way cool!

Akelamalu says What a lovely evening - your Mum for company, good food and good music. What more could one ask for? :)