Andrei Matorin
Born in Brazil, Andrei Matorin began his violin studies at the age of six. His early years were spent studying classical technique at the Boston Center for the Arts, in Italy, and at the Conservatoire de Geneve in Geneva Switzerland. Eventually, after moving back to United States, he became fascinated by jazz.
Thanks in great part to his close friendship with bassist, Josef Deas, he quickly became exposed to a wide variety of the jazz tradition. Deas shared records with him of many of the legends—from John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Oscar Peterson to Ray Brown and Herbie Hancock. In Ann Arbor, during his first year at Huron High, he would commute everyday in between classes to attend Mike Grace's rigorous jazz program at Community High. Meanwhile, he also studied jazz privately with saxophonist Vincent York (former member of Duke Ellington's Orchestra). The next year, after moving to Boston, he enrolled in the Jazz Certificate Program of New England Conservatory's Preparatory School. The first violinist ever to complete the four-year program, Andrei did so in two and a half years and was awarded the Jazz Department and Ensemble Awards upon graduation. By then, he had already been offered a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music.
Andrei is currently finishing up his studies at Berklee. Although working towards a dual major in Performance and Jazz Composition he is still intensively pursuing classical and technical studies on the violin as well as traditional composition and counterpoint. He has had the privilege of studying with some of the best jazz musicians and educators in the World. Among them, George Garzone, Tiger Okoshi, Tony Malaby, Dave Santoro, and Hal Crook. Andrei has shared a stage with many legendary and up-and-coming jazz greats including Bob Moses, Tiger Okoshi, Rosa Passos, Christian Scott, Dennis Montgomery, Luques Curtis and Zaccai Curtis, Jason Palmer, Richie Barshay, James Williams and many more. At Berklee, he has been the recipient of the String Department Award and his music has been featured at a Best of Jazz Composition concert.
Performing regularly between Boston and New York since the age of 15, Andrei has also been teaching privately as of his first year at Berklee. In the Summer of 2007, after giving private lessons at the Litchfield Jazz Camp in Connecticut, he was invited back for 2008 as a full-time Junior Faculty Member.
