Hailed by the New York Times for his “magnificent sound and breath of expression”, pianist and composer Matan Porat has performed in distinguished venues including the Philharmonie in Berlin, Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Auditorium du Louvre in Paris and Alte Oper in Frankfurt, and with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

Known for his unique, narrative-based programming, Porat’s varied repertoire ranges from the complete Bach Partitas and Schubert Sonatas to Ives’ Concord Sonata and the Ligeti Concerto. His debut CD for MIRARE, “Variations on a theme by Scarlatti” – a 65-minute program of pieces from Couperin to Boulez which all relate to Scarlatti’s Sonata K. 32 – was praised as “a fantastic album that one should hear over and over again” by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
His following CD, “Lux”, a recital of pieces around light, from dawn to nightfall, has won 5* in Diapason.

Matan Porat has participated in many acclaimed festivals including Marlboro, Lockenhaus, Ravinia, Verbier, Hohenems, La Folle Journée, La Roque d’Antheron, Piano aux Jacobins and Musicfest Berlin. Chamber music appearances include performances with the Artemis Quartet, Quatuor Ysaÿe, Cuarteto Casals, Pacifica, Modigliani, Schumann and Jerusalem Quartets.

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 7 singers; with the Ballett am Rhein in the Opernhaus Düsseldorf and with the music theater group Nico and the Navigators in Bozar and Konzerthaus Berlin.
Porat 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 Emanuel Krasovsky, Maria João Pires and Murray Perahia, obtaining his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School. His composition teachers were Ruben Seroussi and George Benjamin.

Porat’s works have been commissioned and performed by Nicolas Altstaedt, Avi Avital, Kim Kashkashian, Andreas Scholl, Vladimir Jurowski, Maria João Pires, Cuarteto Casals and Dover Quartet, as well as Ensemble United Berlin and the Academy of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.