Hong Kong City Hall, Central｜Hong Kong Arts Festival and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust co-presenting No Limits 2025: Jazz Excellence by Matthew Whitaker

Description

Young jazz sensation making music from the heart

Emmy Award nominee and performer of 2024 Paralympic

Games Closing Ceremony

No Limits 2025 opens with the Hong Kong debut of award-winning young American multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Matthew Whitaker. In two individual performances, he showcases his extraordinary musicianship and musical influences ranging from jazz to gospel, soul, Latin, rhythm and blues, and hip hop.

Playing piano and organ – alongside quintet partners Liany Mateo on bass, Marcos Robinson on guitar, Ivan Llanes on percussion and John Steele on drums – Whitaker presents bold original compositions and rearrangements of familiar jazz classics, demonstrating his outstanding technical and improvisation skills.

Born blind, Whitaker was recognised as a musical prodigy as a young child, and by the age of fifteen had become an internationally renowned jazz pianist and the youngest Yamaha Artist in history. Now in his early twenties, Whitaker is a seasoned and accomplished musician, winning audiences around the world with his powerful, distinctive style and charismatic positivity. A three-time ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award winner, Whitaker has collaborated with industry greats like Jon Batiste, Christian McBride, Regina Carter, Ray Chew and Derrick Hodge.

Piano & Organ: Matthew Whitaker

Double Bass / Electric Bass: Liany Mateo

Guitar: Marcos Robinson

Percussion: Ivan Llanes

Drums: John Steele