Matt Haimovitz and Christopher O’Riley – The Universality of Bach

Overview

MetroNOME is thrilled to present cellist Matt Haimovitz and pianist Christopher O’Riley in a special performance – the Universality of Bach.

In early 2026, former NPR host Christopher O’Riley and multi-GRAMMY-nominated cellist Matt Haimovitz launch their new album, The Bach Dialogues (PENTATONE). The artists have a voracious and expansive appetite for a wide range of music from various genres, from Radiohead (Shuffle.Play.Listen) and Pussy Riot (Troika) to Beethoven Sonatas on period instrumentsn(BEETHOVEN, Period.)

Both Mr. Haimovitz and Mr. O’Riley hold Bach in highest esteem among their multivarious musical passions. With their forthcoming collaboration focusing on Bach’s Sonatas for Viola da Gamba, O’Riley and Haimovitz realize a dream to enter into Bach’s Platonic timbral world. Mr. Haimovitz arranges the Viola da Gamba part for his 5-string baroque cello piccolo – on which he recorded the Sixth Solo Suite of Bach — with O’Riley playing Bach’s favored keyboard instrument, the clavichord.

For the live tour, Haimovitz and O’Riley use the electric 5-string cello and the next generation of sound sampling, ‘physical modeling’ of a virtual historical keyboard. O’Riley &Haimovitz perform the three original Bach Gamba Sonatas and C Major Trio Sonata. Solo Preludes and Fugues of Bach from the Well-Tempered Klavier and the Cello Suites, fill out the set. Much like their earlier immersion in the Beethoven works for cello and piano, BEETHOVEN.Period. released on the PENTATONE Oxingale Series, their exploration of instruments of the composer’s time has wrought new & unique insights resulting in unprecedented freedom & expressivity making

The BACH Dialogues an inevitable & exciting new chapter in their long-standing collaboration.