Some Recent Reviews:

...In Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, he performed both the Goldberg Variations and Ravel’s Gaspard de la Nuit, two of the most intellectually and technically intimidating works of the entire keyboard repertoire. Yet Matt approaches Bach and Ravel with the same aplomb it takes to play a good game of chess: understanding, concentration, discipline, hard work, and, not the least, passion.
(.. Lucy Miller Murray, in Philadelphia Music Makers Magazine, Vol. 7 No. 1, Spring 2008)
Please click here to see the whole review.

...The pianistic highlight of the evening was Tantris the Clown.
Mr. Bengtson entered into the role of a Pagliaccio as a great actor-pianist. His is a schizophrenic clown, easily shifting mood, color and character from phrase to phrase. His rendering was so compelling, that his clarity of tone and attack and rich Romantic sound could go easily unnoticed.
(.. Dayle van der Sande, in the Polish Music Center Newsletter)
Please click here to see the whole review.

...Bengtson is both analytical and creative, a winning combination for any pianist; the two sides of his brain seem to be perfectly balanced. ... Bengtson is amazing.
(.. Susan L. Pena, Reading Times, May 14, 2006)

...Bengtson is a remarkable artist ... Big-boned pianism, rich tonal colors, and dazzling technique are on display here. Has Scriabin ever been played better? Only Horowitz and Richter can compare to what Bengtson achieves on this disc.
(.. Lawrence Budmen, American Record Guide, July/August 2005 on Scriabin Sonatas recording, Romeo 7232)

Click here to see more reviews.

Press Release Files:

November, 2005 Bengtson goes for number four at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall

October, 2005 Bell and Bengtson launch XM Satellite Radio’s Classical Confidential

May, 2005 Recital at Moorestown Friends School, Moorestown, NJ

February, 2005 Concerts of Music by Philadelphia Composers

September, 2004 CD Release: Music of Bach, Bartok and Brahms

August 13, 2004 Wilk Prize for Research in Polish Music

February 20, 2004 Orleans International Piano Competition

May 7, 2003 Candlelight Series, Baltimore, MD

April 27, 2003 Honens International Piano Competition

April 22, 2003 Performance at La Maison Francaise, Washington, DC

April 2, 2003 Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev Int’l Piano Competition

March 2, 2003 Ft. Hays State U., all-Szymanowski program

March 1, 2003 Sandzen Gallery, Lindsborg, KS, all-Szymanowski program

February 28, 2003 Wichita State U., all-Szymanowski program

February 27, 2003 Southwestern College, Winfield, KS, all-Szymanowski program

February 25, 2003 University of KS-Lawrence, all-Szymanowski program

February 12, 2003 Cornell University, all-Szymanowski program

February 7, 2003 Settlement Music School, Philadelphia, all-Szymanowski program

January 31, 2003 Beethoven 4th Concerto with Ridgefield, CT Symphony

December 2, 2002 Third Carnegie Hall Performance

(Nov ’02) I gave the first all-Szymanowski recital with violinist Blanka Bednarz, at St. Anne’s Church in Boston.

(Nov ’02) I recently gave the first of many recitals focused on the music of Szymanowski, with violinist Bin Huang, at the beautiful Polish Embassy in Washington DC (see the Embassy Series website).

(Sep ’02) I have recently moved to Philadelphia, where I am on the theory and piano faculty at Settlement Music School and on the piano staff at the Curtis Institute of Music.

(Sep ’02) My summer was a spectacular one, including a trip to France, Holland, Switzerland, England, Scotland, and Sweden for a combination of musical pursuits and vacation. In the meantime I won two golf tournaments, a Grand Prix chess tournament in England, and a prize for piano performance in France!

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