Matt Haider

Matt Haider was born in 1985. He is the son of Margee and Dan Haider of Forest Lake, Minnesota.

Matt began studying piano in first grade. Soon after, he began playing solo piano at three local churches for their Sunday services. In fourth grade, when his church's organist fell ill, Matt was taken out of school to play for a funeral. From that point on, he has been a regular weekend accompanist for his hometown parish. In seventh grade, he began accompanying the choral concerts for his junior high school, sparking his love for accompanying. He continued accompanying the junior high choirs, and also started accompanying the choirs at his high school as well as another high school. The summer following seventh grade, he accompanied the musical, "Godspell" for a local community theatre group. Through this experience, Matt found an interest in musical theatre and he continued playing for musical theatre productions. In the summer of 2001, after an orchestra conductor backed down Matt had the opportunity to conduct the production from the piano. Following this show, Matt also found an interest in conducting musical theatre shows. He has been a part of over 30 musical theatre productions, serving as pianist, musical director and orchestra conductor. Matt recorded two solo piano CD's, also while in high school selling 2,500 at local establishments, through online orders, and an appearance on the KARE11 Saturday Morning Show.

Currently a junior at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University (CSB/SJU), Matt is working towards a major in piano performance. He has taken private piano lessons from Fr. Robert Koopmann, voice lessons from Dr. Carolyn Finley and organ lessons from Kraig Windschitl. Through his piano lessons, Matt has given a freshman recital ('05), a sophomore recital ('06) and is currently preparing for his junior recital in May '07. Matt is currently a member of the CSB/SJU Chamber Choir and has also been a member of the CSB/SJU Wind Ensemble. In his first three years on campus, Matt has accompanied over 15 vocal/instrumental recitals. He has served as rehearsal accompanist for three of the Music Department's Opera Workshop Productions. Matt is also the pianist for the Campus Ministry Student Mass on Sunday nights. As part of his student employment, he is a student worker at The St. John's Boys' Choir. In addition to the daily office work, he accompanies the Junior Varsity and Training Choirs, and fills in as accompanist for the Concert Choir when needed.

Matt is not only involved in music on campus, but in his community as well. In addition to being an accompanist at his home parish, St. Peter Catholic Church, he was hired in the summer of 2006 to be a Contemporary Music Consultant. Through this job, he implemented a blended worship service consisting of a mix of contemporary Christian music with more traditional folk music. He is in charge of scheduling and planning liturgies, overseeing the musicians at the mass, arranging instrument parts and creating seasonal worship aides with the music. He is a regular pianist at Hosanna Lutheran Church in Forest Lake, MN.

Matt has used his music to raise funds for different organizations. During the summers of '05 and '06, Matt put together benefit concerts for the American Cancer Society. He combined a musical concert with a fundraising effort for the American Cancer Society. This idea came after his grandmother, who started him in piano lessons, died from cancer. Last summer's concert included 12 vocalists, and numerous instrumentalists and technical workers. Matt organized the event, which included teaching music and simple choreography to the singers, rehearsing with the instrumentalists, putting together costumes and props, and publicizing the event. From these two events alone, Matt was able to raise $5,000 for the American Cancer Society. Plans for the 2007 Benefit Concert are currently underway.