Acclaimed cellist here for benefit show

When The Jewish Chronicle last caught up to cellist Matt Haimovitz, the enfant terrible of the classical music world was extending his tour of rock bars to downtown KCMO’s The Brick in the summer of 2008.

“It was a great venue,” Haimovitz recalled this week. “I enjoyed it. Very intimate; good vibes.”

Haimovitz — who has over 10 classical records out under his own name, performances with the world’s top orchestras on his resume and a passel of awards (Grand Prix Du Disque, etc.) on his mantel — will be back in Kansas City, Mo., this Sunday, March 14, for a benefit concert. (See below for details)

Haimovitz will join a couple of local musicians — one of whom he has worked with closely over the years — in a performance to benefit the Kansas City String Quartet Program, a summer-education program.

In addition to everything else, the former child prodigy Haimovitz, now 39, has established a record label, Oxingale, which has released recordings by him and others.

In a phone interview this week, he said his multifarious activities are all part of “living and breathing music.”

Music with friends
“Making music with friends — that’s the greatest privilege we can have,” Haimovitz said. “And chamber music — a Beethoven string quartet is not something I normally get to do. So it should be great fun and very rewarding to play it with great friends, both artistically and personally.”

Haimovitz is a native of Bat Yam, Israel, and now lives in Montreal, where he teaches at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. He laughed when he was compared to visiting jazz instrumentalist who picks up a local trio and rehearses some standard tunes the day before the show.

“(Violinist) Andy (Simionescu) and I know each other very, very well,” Haimovitz said. “So you can’t really say it’s a pickup group, because every year for several years we’ve done a few things together. We’re kindred spirits. He’s Romanian, and my family comes from Romania. As for Thula (Ngwenyama), the violist, the last few years we’ve gotten together with Andy and done some string trios. Elizabeth (Suh Lane) I have never worked with before, so that should throw some new and exciting blood into the mix.

“Andy and I have been thinking about this program — reading and rehearsing with others — for a while. It’s true; we only get a few days to put it together. But I also enjoy that. Usually, a piece is played by a fixed quartet, so it’s a challenge to find a homogenous sound. At the same time, we do it as individuals, so there is a freshness and a spontaneity in coming together.”

‘String Thing’ Sunday
“It’s A String Thing,” a benefit concert for the Kansas City String Quartet Program, will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 14, at the Pembroke Hill School’s Centennial Hall, 5121 State Line Road.

Haimovitz will be accompanied by two members of the KCSQP faculty, his longtime duet partner, violinist Andy Simionescu, and violinist Elizabeth Suh Lane, the program’s artistic director and head of faculty for the last decade.

They will be joined by Thula Ngwenyama, an internationally acclaimed and award-winning violist who will be making her Kansas City debut.
The musicians are tentatively scheduled to perform Beethoven’s String Trio in D Major and Quartet Op. 95, and Haydn’s Quartet Op. 76, No. 5 in D.

Tickets are available through the UMKC Central Ticket Office, (816) 235-2770. Reserved seats are $50. Select seating for middle and high school students is $25.

The concert celebrates the Kansas City String Quartet Program, which, for 17 years, has nurtured young musicians through the cooperative study and performance of chamber music. Each summer, KCSQP brings faculty from orchestras and universities throughout the nation to the Pembroke Hill campus to teach local teenage violinists, violists and cellists.

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