Pianist, composer, songwriter and arranger, Matt Herskowitz has distinguished himself in several musical genres. His 2007 solo piano release, Matt Herskowitz Plays Gershwin (Disques Tout Crin), featuring Gershwin's great solo arrangement of Rhapsody in Blue and Matt's own original solo arrangements of the Concerto in F and Cuban Overture, is in nomination this year for Quebec's prestigious Prix Opus. It also made Montreal's prominent quotidian La Presse's list of top 10 jazz albums of the year. His 2006 solo release, Gabriel's Message, which features his original  arrangements and compositions based on popular Christmas themes, was nominated for Québec's prestigious Félix award in 2007.

Matt's performance on the soundtrack of the Grammy-nominated film The Triplets of Belleville has earned him much popular and critical acclaim. He performs Bach's Prelude in C minor in the film, loosely posing as Glenn Gould, and Bach à la Jazz, his own jazz arrangement of the same Bach prelude, which is also featured on the award-winning hit soundtrack CD of the film. Matt also recorded a solo improvisation in Robert Lepage's film La Face Cachée de la Lune in 2003. In 1997 Matt won first prize at the Orford International Piano Competition, which led to his recording of Glazunov's 2nd Piano Concerto with I Musici de Montreal for Chandos Records in 1998. The recording was hailed by Strad Magazine as “by far the best recording on disc.”

As jazz pianist with his group MaD Fusion he's performed at major festivals around the world, including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Etnafest music festival in Italy, the Rhino Jazz Festival in France, and the Hamburg and Bremen international music festivals in Germany, as well as a nine city tour of Belgium. Their debut recording, Forget Me Not, received wide critical acclaim, and was also nominated for Félix award in 2005. Dave Brubeck, upon hearing the album, wrote to Matt and commented: “Hearing such technique almost ruined my day. This is the final straw, I'd better retire now.” Barry Manilow, after hearing this recording, invited Matt and his trio to join him on his 2007 Christmas release for Hallmark, In The Swing Of Christmas, which has just been nominated for a Grammy award for Best Traditional Pop Album. 

As composer/soloist, Matt recently premiered his new piano concerto, Undertow, with Absolute Ensemble at the Bremen International Musikfest in Bremen, Germany. The piece was part of a program called “Reinventions”, in which 5 composers were asked to write original pieces based on Bach Inventions. Undertow was one of four major pieces composed for the festival. One reviewer wrote: “Matt Herskowitz proved himself a highly energetic rhythmian, without comparison in his mastery of the piano... he also conjured up absolutely lyrical moments of the compositional structure of his Bach Invention.” His other works for piano and orchestra include his Chorale and Variations on a Theme of Dave Brubeck, which he performed with the Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal in 1998 for Radio-Canada broadcast, Serial Blues, which he recorded with Absolute Ensemble for Enja Records in 2000, and several performances of smaller crossover works for piano and chamber orchestra from 2002 to the present. Upcoming projects include the premier of a new piece for jazz piano trio, violin and cello in the spring of 2009, commissioned by the Lyric Chamber Music Society of New York, the premier of a new concerto for bandoneon and orchestra in the fall of 2009, commissioned by Absolute Ensemble, and several performances of his solo Gershwin program in festivals in Europe and Canada throughout 2009.

In 2002 Matt composed an original film score for a silent avant-garde French short film, which was performed live with the film at Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater. His piece was one of six short films screened with new music performed live by Parabola, a New York-based ensemble specializing in new film music. Other contributing composers included renowned film composers Carter Burwell and Stephen Endelman. In 2005 Matt performed again with Parabola music of Carter Burwell in two “sound plays” by the Coen Brothers and Charlie Kaufman in New York and London. The show featured renowned actors Meryl Streep, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Hope Davis, among others.

As a songwriter, Matt has collaborated with many artists and producers, most notably pop diva Lara Fabian. His Piano Nocturne, a nearly 17-minute solo piano piece featured on Lara's album Nue (Universal, 2001), earned him many thousands of fans in Europe and was a milestone in pop recordings. As a result of its success, Matt and Lara began a long and productive collaboration which continues to this day.

A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Matt is originally from Albany, New York, and has made Montreal his adopted home of 10 years.