A MOVEABLE FEAST: The PRIMAVERA Project
Haimovitz is known for his trademark solo cello programs – from taking Bach Cello Suites out of the concert hall and into clubs and coffeehouses, to his 50-State Anthem Tour, and beyond. His latest collaborative project, The Primavera Project, featured in the last acclaimed 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, encompasses a momentous series of 81 commissions for solo cello inspired by two paintings, Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera (c.1480) and contemporary artist Charline von Heyl’s reimagined Primavera 2020. The Primavera Project celebrates the rich tapestry of distinct and diverse compositional voices with live experiences merging music and art, recordings, videos, and ultimately a multimedia theatrical production. Haimovitz curates thematic suites of Primavera works – from composers Philip Glass, Missy Mazzoli, Tomeka Reid, Vijay Iyer, Nico Muhly, Juri Seo, Nkeiru Okoye, Niloufar Nourbahksh, and many more – weaving Bach Cello Suites and Haimovitz’s cello ensemble arrangements of Josquin des Prez through a musical program bridging the centuries and encompassing the cycles of history and nature.
For decades, Haimovitz has brought his solo cello to alternative spaces – from the first artist to play at the now defunct and iconic CBGB punk palace in NYC to the back of a pick-up truck in Far West Texas – where the context instantly creates a dialogue and tension. With The Primavera Project, the audience joins Haimovitz in moving through spaces where the curated music engages its site-specific architecture and environment, taking on a whole new life and meaning.
In the press
“The cellist Matt Haimovitz’s playing sizzles. And yet over a long program, it can be strangely easy to start to forget him. His skill becomes something you take for granted; it’s a humble way to present virtuosity. His latest contemporary-music vehicle is a multivolume series, “Primavera,” in which he’s invited 81 composers to respond to spring-indebted paintings by Botticelli and the contemporary artist Charline von Heyl. ”
— New York Times
“The awe-inspiring Primavera Project, co-directed by Matt Haimovitz and Dr. Jeffrianne Young, explores the influence and inspiration of music and art… It is so fascinating to hear each composer’s own musical perception of the visuals…Haimovitz understands and interprets each diverse work, playing all lines in stunningly beautiful, must-listen-to passionate performances.”
— Wholenote
“...Haimovitz traces a cunningly considered route through it all, allied to a fierce commitment whatever the music’s style. His delineation of voices and textures is remarkable – in the complementary lines of Missy Mazzoli’s minimalist Beyond the Order of Things (After Josquin), for example, or the wonderfully expressive range of pizzicatos in Niloufar Nourbakhsh’s Cyclical Rabbits – and his unshowy technical agility is matched by an open-minded responsiveness to the pieces’ individual demands and characters.”