Matt Masters Artist Bio

There are two artists named Matt Masters. One lives in England one lives in Canada. This is a bio of the Canadian one.

Matt is a 33 year-old Calgary artist. He works as a singer and a songwriter of original country and western music with a contemporary edge. Matt plays 100 performances a year and manages, books and promotes his band himself.

Matt has played alongside some of Canada’s most respected musicians, including the late Jeff Healey, members of Blue Rodeo, Prairie Oyster, Barney Bentall, Justin Rutledge, Corb Lund and Ndidi Onukwulu. Matt Has performed for the Prime Minister and the Governor General. He has also performed in front of Wayne Gretzky.

In 2009 Matt began performing regularly in front of 20,000 people at the Pengrowth Saddledome as part of the Calgary Flames games. 2009 will also see Matt’s first tour of Europe, with performances in the UK, Germany and a special performance at the Canadian Embassy in Ankara Turkey.

Matt is also a recognized play write and actor. In March of 2009 Matt was featured as an emerging artist at the EnBridge New Playrites festival. In 2008 he premiered his first full-length work, Don Coyote. It opened to strong reviews in Calgary and was promptly booked to play the prestigious Nuit Blanche festival in Toronto, where it was performed before 7,000 people. Previously, Matt had featured excerpts of Don Coyote at the Biennale De Montreal in 2007.

Matt also works as the executive/artistic director of the Spaghetti Western Festival. This is a new annual festival that premiered in Calgary on August 23rd 2008. A collaborative effort between the City of Calgary, Olympic Plaza Cultural Development District and Matt Masters saw the creation of this new festival, that features “New sounds in country and western music.” In its first year attendance was over 3,000. The Second annual Spaghetti Western will take place August 22nd, 2009.

Matt has been performing for 13 years. He has written music for film and television, performed coast to coast and over seas. He has a degree in History from the University of Calgary (2002) and spent two years as the General Manager of the Toronto Blues Society (2003-2004.) He speaks French and English.

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