Piano Recital: Matan Porat

The Pharos Arts Foundation, in collaboration with PwC Cyprus, present a piano recital with the fascinating Matan Porat – considered to be one of the most original voices to have emerged in recent years, with artistic activity encompassing a wide spectrum of work as a pianist and composer. Having appeared in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, Porat has been praised for his varied and exciting concert programmes, which range from Baroque to contemporary repertoire: “Porat plays with a magnificent sound and breath of expression” (The New York Times), “An astounding feat of creative musicianship” (The New Yorker), “Sviatoslav Richter would have loved to hear the extraordinary pianist Matan Porat” (La Croix). For his recital at The Shoe Factory, on Friday 8 December 2017, 8:30pm, Matan Porat will perform works by Debussy, Rameau and Schumann.

THE PROGRAMME:

Claude Debussy: Images for piano, Book I (1905)
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Suite en La (1727)
Interval
Claude Debussy: Prelude à l'après midi d'un Faune (arr. Porat) (1894)
Robert Schumann: Humoreske for piano in B-flat major, Op.20 (1839)

MATAN PORAT piano

Matan Porat is one of the most original voices to have emerged in recent years, with artistic activity encompassing a wide spectrum of work as a pianist and composer.

Porat’s varied concert programme ranges from the complete Bach Partitas and Schubert Sonatas to Ives’ Concord Sonata and the Ligeti Concerto. His debut CD, Variations on a theme by Scarlatti – a 65-minute programme of pieces from Couperin to Boulez which relate to Scarlatti’s Sonata K.32 – was released on the Mirare label and was hailed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as “a fantastic album that one should hear over and over again”.

Porat has played solo recitals at such venues as the Philharmonie in Berlin, Wigmore Hall in London, Auditorium du Louvre and Salle Gaveau in Paris, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt and 92Y in New York. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Concerto Budapest, Geneva Camerata, SWR Sinfonieorchester, Münchener Kammerorchester, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

An avid chamber musician, Matan Porat has participated in many distinguished festivals including the Marlboro, Lockenhaus, Ravinia, Verbier, Hohenems, Musicfest Berlin and Rheingau Festivals. Chamber music appearances include performances with the Artemis Quartet, Quatuor Ysaÿe, Cuarteto Casals, Pacifica and Jerusalem Quartets, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon, Sharon Kam, Kim Kashkashian, Emmanuel Pahud, Dorothea Röschmann, Alisa Weilerstein and members of the Guarneri Quartet. In 2011 Porat has toured with Peter Brook’s production of Mozart’s Magic Flute, in an experimental version for piano solo and 7 singers.

Born in Tel-Aviv, Matan Porat studied with Emanuel Krasovsky, Maria João Pires and Murray Perahia. He obtained his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School. Winner of the 2009 Prime Minister Award for composers, Porat studied composition with Ruben Seroussi and George Benjamin.

Porat’s works have been commissioned and performed by Andreas Scholl, Maria João Pires, Kim Kashkashian, Avi Avital, Cuarteto Casals and Nicolas Altstaedt, as well as the Academy of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. David Orlowsky’s CD, featuring Porat’s Lux Aeterna, won the ECHO Award in 2011; Porat’s piece Whaam!, recorded by David Greilsammer for Sony, was released in 2012. Among his performed pieces are an opera, Animal Farm; a Requiem; a mandolin concerto; and a music theatre trilogy for an actor and ensemble based on stories by Kafka, Orwell and Thomas Mann.

Tickets:
€15 / €10 Concessions & members of the Pharos Arts Foundation,
Box Office: Directly from the Foundation’s website www.pharosartsfoundation.org/Tickets_online.htm or Tel. 9666-9003 (Monday - Friday 10:00am-3:00pm)