Matthew Friedman is a singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist from New York, N.Y. He studied piano and composition with jazz great David Lalama and electronic music pioneer Herbert Deutsch (the co-creator of the Moog Synthesizer) at Hofstra University, and is self-taught on guitar and electric bass. Matthew has sung in multiple styles ranging from classical to jazz to rock to folk over his career, and has used his varied experiences as part of his vocal coaching lessons for several years.
Matthew plays and records regularly with many of Broadway’s finest musicians, and since the summer of 2008 he has been performing on keyboards with JERSEY BOYS at the August Wilson Theater in New York City. He also had the honor of accompanying Billy Joel at the Piano Man’s wedding in 2004. Matthew spent all of 2006 as the “The Piano Man” in the First National Touring Company of Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp’s Tony Award-winning musical, MOVIN’ OUT. He was one of only eleven people to hold this position since the show first arrived on Broadway in 2002, and has played to critical acclaim all over the United States, Canada and Japan. He returned to the role for the Second and Third National Tours, from 2007 to 2009. In 2011, he starred as “Billy Joel/Elton John” in a new musical production, THE FOUR PIANO MEN, produced by the Palace Theater in Manchester, New Hampshire under the direction of Carl Rajotte. Matthew is now a bandleader for Craig Scott Entertainment, providing entertainment for weddings, corporate events and private functions. Additionally, he performs as a “dueling pianist” for Flying Ivories and Shake, Rattle and Roll Pianos.
Since 2002, Matthew and the Friedman Brothers Band (with siblings Daniel, Evan and Cary) have performed at several legendary venues in New York City, including the Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways, Arlene’s Grocery and the Knitting Factory. Their first album, Cut and Dry, was released in 2003. Matthew also performs and records with the jazz-fusion instrumental ensemble, The Phibes, directed by Charles Compo, and is featured on two of their albums, Portable Darkness and Soothing Music of the Savage Beast. Matthew has written or co-written over 70 songs, and he has twice been selected as a featured composer as part of the Alternative Torch Songwriters Series at New York’s Symphony Space Theater. Together with Kyle Martin, he released Stories in Lights, an album featuring both original songs and reinterpretations of Billy Joel’s classic tunes, in 2007.