Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Gatto Dolce Duo*
(double bass and cello)

"Performing great chamber music with humorous anecdotes on  the life and times of the composers."

Colin Matthews (cello) and Max Kasper (double base) first met over in the 1980‘s  while both were students in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. After a decade of playing in different parts of the country Colin and Max found themselves living in Halifax where they started reading duets for fun. These readings evolved into being  more serious once both musicians discovered the potential of this combination. Their debut concert was at Bearly’s House of Blues and Ribs. Since then Max and Colin have played in many places around the province, including many house concerts, the Octagon, the Lillian Piercy Concert Hall and the Music Room. Their first CD: “Gatto Dolce Duo, Duets for Cello and Bass”, was released in 2008.

They have developed many themed shows including: “The Seven Deadly Sins”, “Love Lives of the great Composers”, “Schubert’s Unfinished Trout” and, of course, the subject of their latest CD: “Bad Boy Composers”.

 *Originally Jack Chen & Rachel Desoer were scheduled to perform on Saturday, however, due to unforeseen circumstances, they are unable to do so. Fortunately, DCCA was been able to engage Gatto Dolce Duo to perform for us.

Jack Chen & Rachel Desoer
(flute and cello)

Taiwanese-born Canadian flutist Jack Chen lives and performs in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jack’s love of chamber music has brought him to the stages of concert series all across the Maritimes, and he has premiered works by many Canadian composers. He appears frequently with Symphony Nova Scotia, Scotia Chamber Players,as well as, Inner Space Concerts, a chamber concert series he founded in 2014.

Rachel Desoer is a Canadian cellist. She studied at the Juilliard School, Oberlin College, McGill University and the Banff Centre. She graduated from Oberlin in 2008 with a Bachelor of Music degree. Rachel was the cellist of the Cecilia String Quartet from 2010 to 2018. In this ensemble, Rachel toured extensively around the world, recorded 4 albums on the Analekta label and taught chamber music at the University of Toronto. Touring has allowed Rachel to perform at such inspiring venues as Wigmore Hall, The Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Konzert Haus Berlin and many more.