New Ross Piano Festival gives a unique opportunity to the audience in the South East to hear artists who normally play in the bigger cities and concert halls of the world.
For example, this year one of its guest pianists is Matan Porat, who recently played in distinguished venues including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Philharmonie in Berlin, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, and with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta.
Known for his imaginative themed programming, Matan Porat’s varied repertoire ranges from Bach and Schubert to Charles Ives. His debut CD, “Variations on a theme by Scarlatti” was praised as “a fantastic album that one should hear over and over again” by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.His following CD, “Lux”, is a recital of pieces around light, from dawn to nightfall, featuring Porat’s solo arrangement of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après midi d’un Faune.
It is this programme that will be heard live in New Ross in the late-night concert on September 28th.
His love for the performing arts has led him to collaborate with legendary director Peter Brook, touring with his production of Mozart’s Magic Flute for piano solo and seven singers. Also with the Ballett am Rhein in the Opernhaus Düsseldorf and with the music theatre group Nico and the Navigators in Bozar and Konzerthaus Berlin.He also improvises live music for silent films, hailed by The New-Yorker’s Alex Ross as “an astounding feat of creative musicianship”.
Born in Tel-Aviv, Matan Porat studied with Maria João Pires and Murray Perahia, obtaining his Masters degree from the Juilliard School in New York. He is a composer also and his works have been commissioned and performed by Nicolas Altstaedt, Andreas Scholl, Maria João Pires, Cuarteto Casals, as well as the Academy of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
The Piano Festival consistently features these immensely talented artists and this year has a feast of them including Barry Douglas.
