About

Matthew Benaroya bw LALarge8

Imagine a warm safe blanket of inspirational and healing sound that gently washes over the audience. Being in the audience, you may want to close your eyes and go on a vivid journey. Other times you may want to dance and move to the deep drum and bass grooves that lay a strong foundation underneath your experience. Or, you may simply want to watch how the music you are hearing is being created live through a unique, seemingly-effortless technique of playing cello with the final touch of commanding cutting-edge music technology.

Whether you are thirsty for a spiritual and healing sonic experience or you are hungry for a technical performance of original compositions, Matthew delivers. His albums are award-winning, and he has toured the world with his “Solo Electric Cello” for almost a decade. Able to tune into the deep healing and inspirational power of music in the present moment, Matthew steps out of the way and fully into the experience as he allows this energy to flow through him, taking the audience on the journey together.

In addition to Music, Matthew holds space for people in other ways. Being quite the Chinese Tea Enthusiast, he has traveled all over the world learning about traditional teas and how to serve them. Using tea as medicine, Matthew will be happy to take you on quite a journey of the senses with his tea ceremonies, which he often pairs with concerts for small groups.

More ยป

Matthew has also collaborated with many artists as musical support, and has toured as a for-hire musician professionally for several years. In some cases, he is the entire band through looping multiple instruments. Some of the artists Matthew has performed with include Snatam Kaur, Ottmar Liebert, Deva Premal and Miten, Nirinjan Kaur, Jai Jagdeesh, Tina Malia, Todd Boston, Matthew Heulitt, Ian Ethan, Praful, Miribai Ceiba, and many others.

Matthew has two rules for his solo project, “Solo Electric Cello”:

1) Whatever music he composes has to be able to be performed live, with no pre-recorded sounds. This means that what you hear on his albums is what you hear live. He starts with nothing, and builds everything, live, in front of you. Every performance is unique, and has it’s own flavor.

2) All of the sounds have to come from his electric cello. This includes all of the bass, percussion, and ambient sounds, which Matthew achieves through bowing, strumming, percussive, and pizzicato techniques, in combination with a unique proficiency with his effects pedals.

Matthew has 5 award-winning albums to date with his solo project, “Solo Electric Cello”, and he is featured on many other albums from other artists. You can hire Matthew for tours, production, or session work, and he travels all over the world.