Biography
An award-winning conductor, arranger and composer active in film, theater and television, Peter Matz earned his greatest recognition through his contributions to Barbra Streisand’s first albums and his long tenure as musical director of The Carol Burnett Show. Pittsburgh was his birthplace; at UCLA he majored in chemical engineering while spending free hours performing on various woodwinds with area dance bands. Once he received his degree he spent two years in Paris absorbing the local music environment, then moved in 1954 to New York for studies in piano and music theory. His initial professional assignment was rehearsal pianist for Harold Arlen’s House of Flowers, an engagement that led directly to his role as arranger and orchestrator on Arlen’s subsequent Broadway production Jamaica, which featured Lena Horne. Arlen introduced him to Marlene Dietrich, who in turn introduced him to Noel Coward; Coward engaged Matz to arrange and accompany his successful 1955 Las Vegas residency. The association with Coward continued when Matz provided arrangements for the 1961 Broadway musical Sail Away. Alongside additional stage projects, he expanded into television, serving as musical director for The Jimmy Dean Show and Hullabaloo, and into film, where he composed original scores. His encounter with Barbra Streisand resulted in his arranging and conducting her 1963 debut album The Barbra Streisand Album, the recording that launched her career; he subsequently handled her following four albums, among them the Grammy-winning People and My Name Is Barbra. The television special tied to My Name Is Barbra brought Matz an Emmy. Two further Emmys followed—one for the 1970 special The Sounds of Burt Bacharach and another in 1973 for his work on The Carol Burnett Show, where he remained musical director from 1971 through 1979. In 1975 he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score for Barbra Streisand’s Funny Lady. Film and television assignments persisted, and in 1989 he returned to Broadway to orchestrate Grand Hotel, later producing the cast album. During his final years he and his wife, singer Marilyn Lovell, regularly organized benefit concerts supporting AIDS victims. Lung cancer ended Matz’s life on August 9, 2002.
Albums