Matteo Myderwyk releases Ataraxia

Young Amsterdam-based pianist Matteo Myderwyk composes his own music. Since 2017, Myderwyk has been releasing albums on Dutch imprint Excelsior Recordings; To Move (2017), Verses (2018), Ataraxia (2019), Piano Works (2019). Ataraxia will be released in January 2019.

As a classical pianist at the conservatory, Myderwyk abandoned the music of his heroes Bach, Liszt and Messiaento to develop his own musical vocabulary. First of all, he decided to throw away the rulebook of classical music altogether, ending up enthralled in the wonderful world of free-jazz. Making music without plan or pre-written composition gave a new creative impulse that pushed the musician’s craft to exciting new directions. Myderwyk learned his most important lesson in this experimental period; music is something written on paper, but materializes in the moment.

In addition to his fascination with free jazz, Matteo has accompanied many old silent films in various film houses. When he played an improvised live soundtrack at Into The Great Wide Open festival in 2017, Excelsior contracted him to record an improvisational piano album. This eventually became Matteo's debut album To Move, recorded in a concert hall without preparation or blueprint. Follow-up Verses applies the same method, with the only significant difference that Myderwyk exchanges the grand piano for a muted piano, to produce a more intimate sound.

Ataraxia is the first piano album of Myderwyk with prescribed compositions. Although his records are conceived almost exclusively on the piano, it’s not always the case live. His music is constantly evolving; often enough, he breaks with traditional laws by constantly switching instruments, often appearing on stage with an arsenal of synthesizers, drum machines and organs. In other words, Matteo Myderwyk feels at home in any type of setting: at the festivals and in the clubs, the concert halls and the churches.