Matt Baker on double bass and Ismar Gomes on cello offer a unique instrument paring as they delight us with a program featuring Haydn, Rossini, Schubert, along with a few surprises!
Program
Jean Barrière: Sonata à deux
Julián Plaza: Danzarín
Franz Benda: Sonata in F major
Antônio Carlos Jobim: Falando de Amor
Pixinguinha: Homenagem à flor margarida
Franz Schubert: Der Erlkönig
---Intermission---
Robert Leroy Johnson: Come On in My Kitchen
Joseph Haydn: Duet in D, Hob. X:11
Pixinguinha: Saudação
Gioachino Rossini: Duetto in D major
Matt Baker, double bass
Originally from Sioux City, Iowa, Matthew Baker began his professional music career as a double bassist at the early age of 13 with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, first as section and later as principal double bass.
Matt leads a diversified performance career, having achieved recognition worldwide for his work in classical, jazz, folk, and theatrical performance around the world on both the baryton and double bass. He has had critical acclaim from concerts and recordings in publications such as The Strad, Gramophone, The Times, Ritmo, and Bass World, amongst many others and has had full length features written on his work in both The Strad and Ritmo.
Matt has worked with one of the world’s largest international classical labels, Naxos Records, over the last 8 years starting with the Elan Quintet in their ongoing project of resurrecting and recording George Onslow’s string quintets. Matt also published his own critical editions of these works under the publishing house of ISB Editions.
Now with the Valencia Baryton Project, Matt has continued working with the world-class label to delve into the largely unknown repertoire of the baryton - a seldom played instrument of the baroque and classical era.
As the founder of the Valencia Baryton project, Matt has performed in Europe and the Americas with this award-winning ensemble whose first CD was included in All Music’s Best Classical CDs of 2021 and 2023 list and also was in the top 20 of Gramophone. The trio has also commissioned numerous works for the instrument to keep this wonderful sound alive and relevant today.
As a barytonist, Matt has not kept to the classical side of things but in 2019 he also premiered a new genre of music for baryton with French jazz pianist, Baptiste Bailly in what was reported to be the first jazz baryton concert ever. He has later ventured into electronic jazz with the baryton collaborating with electronic artist IMGL. Matt’s work in forging new paths for the baryton has been featured by the Berklee publication Berklee Now in both 2020 and then as a podcast in 2022. Later, Matt began including his work on the baryton with other ensembles as an invited guest and can be heard performing the instrument in styles as diverse as Indian Classical, Sephardic Spanish songs, Contemporary Jazz and celtic/world music.
Beyond his work with in classical music, Matthew Baker has spent years delving into the fields of other music genres. As a jazz musician Matt has shared the stage as both sideman and leader in formations with renowned artist such as Clark Terry, Dave Samuels, Victor Mendoza, Bob Mintzer, Jorge Pardo, Terri Lynn Carrington, Victor Wooten and many others. He has delved into the field of chamber jazz with JPMB, and had his work reviewed by the International Society of Bassists as “sumptuous yet delicate, quite unique and really quite special”.
In world music Matt worked with premier celtic harpist Catriona McKay record her groundbreaking celtic jazz fusion CDs as well as with numerous other celtic artists such as Chris Stout, Donald Grant, Mairi McInnes, Luke Daniels and many others. He toured Europe playing to packed stadiums with the fiddle ensemble Fiddler’s Bid, founded and managed Diablito Tango, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival award winning trio, and has been featured by CCTV 9 in a special concert of Chinese classical fusion at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Recently, Matt has begun work with legendary bandoneonist Daniel Binelli in both trio and sextet format.
From 2002 – 2006, Matt was a member of the theatrical string septet Gogmagogs, directed by Royal Shakespeare Theatre director Lucy Bailey and performed over 100 shows around the world with this innovative project.
In education, Matthew Baker was the founder of the jazz double bass department at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Valencia and now is faculty of the bass department at Berklee College of Music Valencia and ESMAR Conservatory in L’Eliana, Spain. He is also resident chamber music faculty at the Rushmore Music Festival in the USA.
Matt is also a member of the Orquesta de Palau de les Arts, the opera of Valencia.
He holds a Bachelor of Music from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK, and a Postgraduate Diploma from the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK.
Matt is an ambassador to Schertler Electronics and is an endorser for Wiedoeft Rosin.
Ismar Gomes, cello
Award-winning cellist, Ismar Gomes, has performed internationally as a chamber musician, and soloist. Hailed for his “impressive virtuosity, energy, and a handsome tonal range” (Berkshire Review), he has established himself as a captivating young artist, delivering exciting and innovative performances.
Recent appearances have taken Dr. Gomes to four continents including performances at the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, Evolution Contemporary Music Series, Le Petit Salon, Luan Huan Shan Glades Music Festival, Early Music at St. Mark’s, and many more. His recent collaborators include members of the Pittsburgh and Baltimore Symphonies, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as members of the Johannes, and Brentano Quartets. Also in demand as an orchestral player, Dr. Gomes was the Baltimore Symphony’s Fellow for the 2015 – 2016 season, and is a member of both the Virginia and Richmond Symphonies.
Nearly a decade ago, Dr. Gomes and pianist Wan-Chi Su founded Duo Sorolla, which has appeared on distinguished series across the US. Besides their focus on the rich, historic repertoire for cello and piano, the Duo has worked with many outstanding composers – including Aaron Malone, William H. Weigel, George Walker, Ying-Chen Kao and Aaron Jay Kernis – to produce and perform their works. Ismar is also a respected baroque cellist, a capacity in which he has performed for over a decade. In 2012 Dr. Gomes co-founded Arioso Furioso, a baroque ensemble based in New York and later in 2018, Ismar joined Mélomanie, an ensemble that pairs early music and contemporary works on period instruments. An album of newly recorded works written especially for Mélomanie by Richard Belcastro, Larry Nelson, Robert Maggio, and Suzanne Sorkin will be released in 2020.
Always engaged in performing and commissioning new works, Dr. Gomes has presented 50+ world premiere performances. In 2014 Dr. Gomes made the premiere recording of a chamber opera by Pulitzer Prize winner, David Lang performing with the Harlem Quartet and guest artists; the recording was a Grammy nomination finalist. Next season, Ismar will give the premiere of a new concerto written for him, by James Lee III, in Philadelphia.
Teaching is a central component in Dr. Gomes’ musical life. He recently served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Cello at Luther College in Iowa, and is presently on faculty at Gettysburg College. He was formerly faculty and guest artist for StringFest at Merkin Hall, Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary, CIM Summer Chamber Music, and Young Artist at the Three Bridges International Music Festival – he is currently a Faculty Artist at the Rushmore Music Festival, the Baltimore International Piano Festival, and CelloSpeak. Dr. Gomes has recently been invited to present masterclasses at several universities including Georgetown, Towson, Ball State, and Duke.
Ismar attended the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Alison Wells and Amit Peled. Previous teachers include Marc Johnson and Clive Greensmith of the Vermeer and Tokyo Quartets. He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from Stony Brook University, under the tutelage of Colin Carr. Dr. Gomes has appeared in masterclasses for eminent cellists including Steven Doane, Janos Starker and Steven Isserlis, and was mentored in chamber music by the Vermeer, Jerusalem, Juilliard, and Emerson String Quartets.