About Me
SHORT BIO
BROADWAY: MD/Keys 2: “The Illusionists: Turn of the Century”. TOURING: MD/Keys 1: “Mamma Mia!” 25th Anniversary National Tour; AMD/Keys 2: “Jesus Christ Superstar” 50th Anniversary Tour; Associate Music Supervisor: “Jesus Christ Superstar” 2nd National Tour; Keys 2 Sub: “Beetlejuice” 1st National Tour; MD/Keys 1: “Something Rotten!”, “Motown: The Musical”. AMD/Keys: “The Producers”, “Guys & Dolls”. NYMF: MD/Keys: “I Am, I Will, I Do”. REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS: Conductor: “Children of Eden: The Symphonic Version”; MD/Keys 1: “Merrily We Roll Along”, “Amélie”, “Altar Boyz”, “Forever Plaid”, “I Love A Piano”; AMD/Keys 2: “Lysistrata Jones”, “Cole Porter’s You Never Know”. Currently a resident of Omaha, Nebraska with his incredible partner Aubrey.
FULL BIO
Matthew Croft is a music director, pianist, conductor, composer, arranger, and orchestrator. Born in Los Angeles, CA and raised in Waterford, MI, Matthew began his musical instruction at the age of 7 with piano lessons. He studied throughout middle & high school with Judith Wade, and expanded his studies to include composition, music technology, collaborative piano, conducting, and music theory. After high school, he studied Music Composition & Conducting at Wayne State University under professors Kypros Markou, Gerrie Ball, James Hartway, and Gerald Custer.
Since 2006, he has played, conducted, music directed, and been a part of the music staff for over 130 shows, and music directed his first show - a professional Equity production of "Hair!" - at the age of 16. Initially based in the Metro Detroit area, Matthew became highly in demand as a music director, keyboardist, and conductor. In 2014, he started working for Meadow Brook Theatre, Michigan’s largest professional theatre, as a keyboard player, associate music director, and later music director. While there, he played for and provided keyboard programming for the Michigan premieres of Lysistrata Jones, Cole Porter’s You Never Know, and provided new vocal arrangements for Meadow Brook’s long-running A Christmas Carol. He went on to music direct Altar Boyz, I Love a Piano, and Forever Plaid with Meadow Brook Theatre.
In December 2014, Matthew was hired for his first National Tour as the Keyboard 2/Associate Conductor for the 2014-2015 tour of Guys & Dolls, featuring direction by Jeffrey Moss, choreography by Bob Richards, and music direction by Peter Leigh-Nilsen. Following that tour, he returned as the Keyboard 1/Associate Conductor for the 2015-2016 tour of The Producers, featuring Susan Stroman’s original choreography. In 2016, Matthew made his Broadway debut as music director & conductor for The Illusionists: Turn of the Century at the legendary Palace Theatre in NYC, which broke box-office records as the best-selling magic show to ever play Broadway as well as the best-selling show at the Palace Theatre in single-week grosses. After relocating to New Jersey from Detroit in 2017, he was hired as the Music Director/Keyboard 1 for the 2017-2018 tour of Motown: The Musical, working with Tony-nominated orchestrator & music supervisor Ethan Popp and acclaimed director Schele Williams. After Motown closed, he was offered the Music Director/Keyboard 1 chair for the 2nd National Tour of Something Rotten!, working with multi-award winning composer Wayne Kirkpatrick and music supervisor Phil Reno. This tour not only took him around the US and Canada, but also took Matthew to Seoul, South Korea for a month.
Starting in the fall of 2019, Matthew was hired as the Keyboard 2/Hammond B-3/Associate Conductor for the 50th Anniversary Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, working with visionary director Timothy Sheader, choreographer Drew McOnie, music supervisor Tom Deering, and US music supervisor David Holcenberg. He spent three years as part of this full union production, and then following the close of that tour, returned in fall 2021 as the Associate Music Supervisor for the 2nd National Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, responsible for teaching vocals and working with the orchestra during rehearsals. He recently also completed a stint as the long-term keyboard sub for the Beetlejuice 1st National Tour, and also recently began working as a vocal director and orchestrator & arranger for Royal Caribbean Entertainment. His new projects for 2023 include several dozen orchestrations for Royal Caribbean performers, music directing, arranging, orchestrating, and producing an original 10-minute long concert piece (with Aubrey Fink) for The Rose Theater in Omaha, NE entitled “Stories to Song”, and orchestrating an original musical entitled Alyce for composer David Fazzini and lyricist Mitch Carter for a 2024 World Premiere. He is currently on tour as the music director, conductor, & keyboard 1 for the 25th Anniversary National Tour of Mamma Mia!
Outside of musical theatre, Matthew has an extensive background in classical, jazz, and church/choral music. He served as the music director, orchestrator/arranger, band leader/keyboardist, and orchestra & choir conductor for St. Thomas Presbyterian Church in Shelby Township, MI, for 10 years from 2004-2014, as well as performing as a pianist, percussionist, and organist for several other churches throughout Michigan and Ohio. He was a staff accompanist, choir accompanist, solo & ensemble pianist, and jury/audition pianist for Wayne State University (MI), Notre Dame Prep High School (MI), Garden City High School (MI), Franklin High School (MI), Cranbrook School (MI), Walled Lake Central High School (MI), Walled Lake Western High School (MI), Stoney Creek High School (MI), West Bloomfield High School (MI), Derby Middle School (MI), and Baldwin Wallace University (OH). Matthew has performed with the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, the Grosse Pointe Symphony Orchestra, the North Oakland Concert Band, the Farmington Concert Band, and the Wayne State University Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Concert Band on piano, keyboards, celesta, and percussion. As a pianist, he would regularly play with “The Pros”, a full 18-piece big band, from his freshman year of high school onwards, as well as for numerous special events, concerts, recitals, Solo & Ensemble performances, and other projects.
As a composer, his compositions, orchestrations, and arrangements have been heard on three continents around the world in dozens of major cities. His compositions and arrangements for the concert hall have been performed by the Cork Symphony Orchestra in Ireland, the Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, the McKeesport Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania, the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, the Wayne State University Symphony Orchestra, and the Farmington Concert Band. His orchestrations and arrangements for the 2009 Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup Banner Raising Ceremony were performed live by the Wayne State University Symphony Orchestra at Joe Louis Arena and were broadcast internationally on Fox Sports & CBC. As a theatrical orchestrator, he specializes in writing orchestral reductions and custom orchestrations for theatres large and small. His orchestrations have been performed across the US at major universities, performing arts schools, and theatres, as well as colleges and theatres in the UK, Canada, Denmark, and Australia, to name a few. He also regularly writes new orchestrations for the Danish Academy of Musical Theatre in Frederica, Denmark. Currently he is finishing the recording process to publish his first large-scale choral collection for church choir & orchestra entitled Dawn is Breaking, a 13-song collection of Christmas music. He also is highly active as an arranger for custom string quartets for weddings, and is the on-call arranger for the Rondo String Quartet in southeast Michigan. He has written dozens of arrangements for them, and those are available to purchase through the Music Store link on this website.
He and his incredible partner Aubrey and their furry animal friends are currently based in Omaha, Nebraska.