Peter Matz
Encyclopedia
Peter Matz was an award winning American musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

 and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

. His musical career in film, theater, television and studio recording spanned fifty years, and he worked with a number of prominent artists, including Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...

, Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...

 and Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

. Matz won three Emmys
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 and a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

, and is best known for his work on Streisand's early albums.

Biography

Peter Matz was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 on November 6, 1928 to Louis N. Matz and Alice (née Krieger) Matz. He studied Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...

, but after playing woodwind
Woodwind instrument
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against a sharp edge or through a reed, causing the air within its resonator to vibrate...

 in local dance bands to support himself, he soon realised that music was his real vocation. After graduating Matz spent two years in Paris studying piano and music theory. In 1954 he returned to New York and acquired a job as a rehearsal pianist for Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...

 and Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...

's Broadway musical House of Flowers
House of Flowers (musical)
House of Flowers is a musical by Harold Arlen and Truman Capote , based on his own short story, first published in Breakfast at Tiffany's as one of three extra pieces besides the titular novella...

. Recognising Matz's talent, Arlen broadened his scope, and Matz arranged and conducted the music for several of the show's dance sequences. Later Arlen commissioned Matz to write the vocal, dance music and orchestration arrangements for his musical, Jamaica
Jamaica (musical)
Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. Harburg was blacklisted in Hollywood at the time of the writing of the musical...

. Impressed with Matz, Arlen began recommending him to others, including cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...

 artist Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...

.

In 1955 Dietrich recommended Matz to Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...

 when the English playwright, actor and singer was scheduled to perform in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

, but without his accompanist Norman Hackforth
Norman Hackforth
Norman Hackforth, Sir Noël Coward's renowned English accompanist and a gifted musician was born in Gaya, Bihar India on 20 December 1908.Hackforth's relationship with Noël Coward began in 1941, when he succeeded Elsie April and Robb Stewart as his arranger...

 who had been denied a US work permit. Coward was impressed with Matz and described him as "quick, intelligent and a fine pianist". Matz went on to work with Coward on his albums, television specials and his musical Sail Away
Sail Away (musical)
Sail Away is a musical with a book, music and lyrics by Noël Coward. The show was the last musical for which Coward wrote both the book and music, although he wrote the music for one last "book" musical in 1963. The story centers around brash, bold American divorcee Mimi Paragon, working as a...

. In 1962 Matz was Musical Director for Richard Rodgers
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II...

's Broadway musical, No Strings
No Strings
No Strings is a musical drama with a book by Samuel A. Taylor and words and music by Richard Rodgers, his only Broadway score written without a collaborator. The musical opened on Broadway in 1962 and ran for 580 performances...

, for which he received a Tony
Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director
The Tony Award for Best Conductor and Musical Director was first presented in 1948, and later discontinued after 1964.-1940s:* 1948: Milton Rosenstock – Finian's Rainbow* 1949: Max Meth – As the Girls Go-1950s:...

 nomination.

In 1958 Matz married (Dolores) Janet Perry, with whom he had two children: Peter Zachary Matz and Jonas Christopher Matz; they were married 20 years.

In the early 1960s Matz began working with Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...

 on her first album
The Barbra Streisand Album
- Side two :- Personnel :* Barbra Streisand — vocals* Mike Berniker — producer* Peter Matz — arrangements* Fred Plaut and Frank Lacio — recording engineers* John Berg — design* Hank Parker — photography* Harold Arlen — liner notes- Chart performance :...

, which won several Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s and brought her stardom. He continued arranging and conducting on her next four albums and won a Grammy Award himself for her 1964 album, People. Later Matz won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 for her 1965 television special My Name Is Barbra, and an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score for her 1975 film Funny Lady
Funny Lady
Funny Lady is a 1975 film starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall, and Ben Vereen.A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and empresario Billy Rose...

. He won two more Emmys, for an episode of the TV series, Kraft Music Hall
Kraft Music Hall (TV series)
Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products...

, and for an episode of The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...

. Matz was Musical Director for The Carol Burnett Show for eight years.

Over the years Matz worked with a number of prominent artists, including Burt Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...

, Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett is an American singer of popular music, standards, show tunes, and jazz....

, Bing Crosby
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...

, Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee
Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...

, k.d. lang
K.D. Lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang, OC , known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress...

, Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...

, Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....

, Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige
Elaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...

, Chicago
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...

, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...

, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...

, Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

 and Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick
Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....

. He also composed music for a number of films and TV shows. Towards the end of his career, Matz and his wife, singer Marilynn Lovell gave a series of benefit concerts in Los Angeles for AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 victims, for which he received a Special Los Angeles City Council Award. Matz died of lung cancer on August 9, 2002. A memorial concert in his honor was held at the University of California, Los Angeles, on November 25, 2002 and featured, amongst others, Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...

 and Burt Bacharach.

Selected credits

Source: Film Reference
Television series
  • Kraft Music Hall
    Kraft Music Hall (TV series)
    Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products...

    (1967–71) – music director
  • The Carol Burnett Show
    The Carol Burnett Show
    The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...

    (1971–78) – music director
  • Detective School
    Detective School
    Detective School is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC for four months in 1979, for a total of 13 episodes....

    (1979) – music composer and director
  • Amanda's
    Amanda's
    Amanda's is an American sitcom inspired by the 1970s British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Amanda's aired on ABC from February 10, 1983 to May 26, 1983.-Synopsis:...

    (1983) – theme music composer
  • Mama's Family
    Mama's Family
    Mama's Family is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 22, 1983. It was cancelled in May 1984, but NBC would continue to air reruns until September 1985. In September 1986, Mama's Family returned in first-run syndication, where it aired for an additional four seasons,...

    (1983) – theme music composer

Television specials
  • My Name Is Barbra
    My Name Is Barbra (TV special)
    My Name Is Barbra is a 1965 television special and the first for up and coming star Barbra Streisand. This television special was released in conjunction with Streisand's fifth studio album My Name Is Barbra. The special was highly successfully winning many awards and a contract was signed for...

    (1964) – music director
  • Color Me Barbra (1965) – music director
  • Once Upon a Mattress
    Once Upon a Mattress
    Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It opened off-Broadway in May 1959, and then moved to Broadway...

    (1972) – music director
  • The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993) – conductor and arranger
  • Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994) – conductor

Films
  • Bye Bye Braverman
    Bye Bye Braverman
    Bye Bye Braverman is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Herbert Sargent was adapted from the 1964 novel To An Early Grave by Wallace Markfield...

    (1968) – music composer and director
  • Marlowe (1969) – music composer and director
  • Funny Lady
    Funny Lady
    Funny Lady is a 1975 film starring Barbra Streisand, James Caan, Omar Sharif, Roddy McDowall, and Ben Vereen.A sequel to the 1968 film Funny Girl, it is a highly fictionalized account of the later life and career of comedienne Fanny Brice and her marriage to songwriter and empresario Billy Rose...

    (1975) – music adapter, arranger and conductor
  • Alice in Wonderland
    Alice in Wonderland (1976 film)
    Alice in Wonderland is a 1976 pornographic musical film, loosely based on Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It was directed by Bud Townsend and starred Terri Hall, Bree Anthony, and Kristine DeBell. The theatrical release of the film was on December 10, 1976 in the USA...

    (1976) – music director
  • The Private Eyes (1981) – music composer and director
  • Lust in the Dust
    Lust in the Dust
    Lust in the Dust is a 1985 Western comedy film starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Cesar Romero, and Lainie Kazan, and directed by Paul Bartel. It takes its title from a longstanding nickname given to the 1946 Western Duel in the Sun...

    (1985) – music composer and director
  • Torch Song Trilogy
    Torch Song Trilogy (film)
    Torch Song Trilogy is a 1988 comedy-drama film adapted by Harvey Fierstein from his play of the same title. The film was directed by Paul Bogart, starring Fierstein as Arnold, Anne Bancroft as Ma Beckoff, Matthew Broderick as Alan, Brian Kerwin as Ed, and Eddie Castrodad as David. Executive...

    (1988) – music adapter

Theater
  • Sail Away
    Sail Away (musical)
    Sail Away is a musical with a book, music and lyrics by Noël Coward. The show was the last musical for which Coward wrote both the book and music, although he wrote the music for one last "book" musical in 1963. The story centers around brash, bold American divorcee Mimi Paragon, working as a...

    (1961–62) – musical director and dance arranger
  • No Strings
    No Strings
    No Strings is a musical drama with a book by Samuel A. Taylor and words and music by Richard Rodgers, his only Broadway score written without a collaborator. The musical opened on Broadway in 1962 and ran for 580 performances...

    (1962) – musical director, conductor, and dance arranger
  • The Boys from Syracuse
    The Boys from Syracuse
    The Boys from Syracuse is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical...

    (1963) – ballet music composer
  • Hallelujah, Baby!
    Hallelujah, Baby!
    Hallelujah, Baby! is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, and a book by Arthur Laurents. The show is "a musical chronicle of the African American struggle for equality during the [first half of the] 20th century."...

    (1967) – orchestrator
  • Girl Crazy
    Girl Crazy
    Girl Crazy is a 1930 musical with music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Ethel Merman made her stage debut in this musical production....

    (1985) – orchestrator
  • Grand Hotel
    Grand Hotel (musical)
    Grand Hotel is a musical with a book by Luther Davis and music and lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest, with additional lyrics and music by Maury Yeston....

    (1989) – orchestrator

Albums
  • The Barbra Streisand Album
    The Barbra Streisand Album
    - Side two :- Personnel :* Barbra Streisand — vocals* Mike Berniker — producer* Peter Matz — arrangements* Fred Plaut and Frank Lacio — recording engineers* John Berg — design* Hank Parker — photography* Harold Arlen — liner notes- Chart performance :...

    (1961) – arranger and conductor
  • The Second Barbra Streisand Album
    The Second Barbra Streisand Album
    The Second Barbra Streisand Album is the title of Barbra Streisand's second solo studio album. The album was released in August 1963, just six months after the release of her debut album, The Barbra Streisand Album, and recorded in just four days in June 1963 .Radio stations received mono and...

    (1962) – arranger and conductor
  • People (1964) – arranger and conductor
  • Liza! Liza!
    Liza! Liza!
    Liza! Liza! is the title of Liza Minnelli's debut studio solo album, released in September 1964 by Capitol Records. It contained her interpretations of twelve pop standards....

    (1964) – arranger and conductor
  • Color Me Barbra
    Color Me Barbra
    Color Me Barbra is the title of the seventh studio album by singer Barbra Streisand released on Columbia Records in 1966. It reached #3 in the US albums charts and was certified GOLD by the RIAA...

    (1965) – arranger and conductor
  • It Amazes Me
    It Amazes Me
    It Amazes Me is the title of Liza Minnelli's second solo studio album, released in March 1965 by Capitol Records. It contained her interpretations of eleven pop standards....

    (1965) – arranger and conductor
  • The Broadway Album
    The Broadway Album
    The Broadway Album is the twenty-fourth studio album by director, composer, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, released by Columbia Records on November 4, 1985. Consisting mainly of classic show tunes, the album marked a major shift in Barbra Streisand's career. Streisand had spent ten years...

    (1985) – arranger, conductor and producer

Awards

Year Award Category Work Ref.
1964 Grammy Award  Best Accompaniment Arrangement for Vocalist(s) or Instrumentalist(s) People (Barbra Streisand album)
1965 Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

 
Outstanding Individual Achievements in Entertainment – Musicians My Name Is Barbra (Barbra Streisand TV special)
1970 Emmy Award Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program Kraft Music Hall
Kraft Music Hall (TV series)
Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products...

(TV series, episode "The Sound of Burt Bacharach")
1973 Emmy Award Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction of a Variety, Musical or Dramatic Program The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...

(TV series, episode with Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley
Anthony George Newley was an English actor, singer and songwriter. He enjoyed success as a performer in such diverse fields as rock and roll and stage and screen acting.-Early life:...

 and Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...

)
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