Matt Dahan (born March 12, 1986) is an American composer, songwriter and music director. He is best known for co-creating the musical Starry and his work with American musical theatre company Team Starkid.
Early Life and Education[]
Matt's music career started with an abandoned upright piano and a Talkboy tape recorder in the suburns of Boston.
He went on to study at the Berklee College of Music where he graduated with a Bachelors degree in songwriting. He also studied film scoring at the University of Southern California.
Work[]
Matt made his professional theatre debut in 2015 with his musical written alongside writing partner Kelly D'Angelo: The Count of Monte Cristo at the Lounge Theatre, Los Angeles. Matt created the music and orchestrations for the show as well as acting a music director for the show. He then went on to provide music and act as music director for the off-broadway musical The Babies in 2016. He also provided music and orchestrations for The Adventures of Peter Rabbit at Theatre West, Los Angeles which ran from October 5, 2019 until it was closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After being in development since 2017, in 2018 Matt and writing partner Kelly D'Angelo debuted their original pop-rock musical Starry. The show told the story of two brothers, Vincent and Theo van Gogh and told a transcendal story about the power of expression. The show ran at Rockwell Table and Stage, Los Angeles featuring fellow Team StarKid members: Mariah Rose Faith Casillas and Jeff Blim. The show went on to have two sold out concerts at Feinstein's 54 Below in 2019 featuring many members of the original cast as well as adding new cast members including Team StarKid members Jaime Lyn Beatty, Lauren Lopez and Dylan Saunders. The shows concept album was released on January 31, 2020 and has amassed over 1 million streams. On March 24 2022, Starry was announced to have a workshop in London with a world premiere production also taking place in London in 2023.
Matt recently debuted his radio-style musical series Pulp Musicals. Featuring the vocal talents of Team StarKid members, Mariah Rose Faith Casillas, Curt Mega and James Tolbert, Pulp Musicals weaves stories of science fiction, fantasy and myth together in one audio adventure. The first part of Pulp Musicals episode 1: The Great Moon Hoax was released on November 15, 2021 with the final part and the episodes album being released on November 19, 2021. The second episode is currently in development and is due to be released in August 2022.
Matt has served as composer for a number of films. In 2013, Matt served as the composer for the film How Sweet It Is. The film was well received being listed as a semi-finalist for the 86th Academy Awards in numerous categories. Matt has since composed the score for a number of films including Lonely Boy (2013), The Bus Driver (2018), Break: The Musical (2016), The Muse (2016), Hipmen: LA (2017). He also wrote the original song Beyond the Shore for the 2021 film CODA.
Matt released his first album Love Sick in 2008 and has since released four more: Shadowboxing (2010), Sighseeing Through Whiskey (2014), Angels for Angeles (2018) and Dahanthology, Vol. 1 (2020).
StarKid Productions[]
After meeting members StarKid through working on his musical Starry, Matt was invited to be music director for StarKid's Los Angeles debut musical The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals in 2018. He also featured in the show's band as Keyboard 1. Matt returned to StarKid in 2019 to act of music director and feature once again as Keyboard 1 in Black Friday. Matt also acted as music director for both Nightmare Time and Nightmare Time 2 alongside underscoring both seasons of the series. Matt also served as music director for Nerdy Prudes Must Die in which he also played Keyboard 1. Matt created the score for Workin' Boys as well as serving as music producer. Matt also served as the music director, conductor and Keyboard for Cinderella's Castle.
Matt has had a number of cameos in the Hatchetfield Series as Linda's Pianist. This character has appeared in both Honey Queen in Nightmare Time 2 and Workin' Boys.
StarKid Roles[]
| Year | Production | Creative Role | Acting Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals | Music Director | N/A |
| Orchestration | |||
| Keyboard 1 | |||
| 2019 | Black Friday | Music Director | |
| Orchestration | |||
| Keyboard 1 | |||
| 2020 | Nightmare Time | Music Director | |
| Underscoring | |||
| 2021 | Nightmare Time 2 | Music Director | Linda's Pianist |
| Underscoring | |||
| 2022 | Hey, Melissa! | Accompanist | N/A |
| 2023 | Nerdy Prudes Must Die | Music Director | |
| Orchestration | |||
| Keyboard 1 | |||
| 2023 | Workin' Boys | Music Production | Linda's Pianist |
| Score | |||
| 2024 | Cinderella's Castle | Music Director | Mathias Longfellow |
| Orchestrations | |||
| Conductor | |||
| Keyboard | |||
| 2024 | Space Baby* | Music | TBD |
*The project is yet to be released.
Awards[]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Cinema Diverse, US | Best Web Series | Break: The Musical | Nominated | |
| Indie Series Awards | Best Soundtrack | Break: The Musical | Winner | ||
| Best Web Series (Comedy) | Break: The Musical | Nominated | |||
| Best Original Score | Break: The Musical | ||||
| Best Original Song | Break: The Musical | Just at the Start | |||
| Best Original Song | Break: The Musical | ||||
| International Academy of Web Television Awards | Best Original Music | Break: The Musical | Nominated | ||
| New Media Film Festival | Best Web Series | Break: The Musical | Nominated | ||
| 2013 | 86th Academy Awards | Best Original Score | How Sweet It Is | Semifinalist | |
| Best Original Song | How Sweet It Is | The Bite of Our Lives performed by Erich Bergen | Semifinalist | ||
| Best Original Song | How Sweet It Is | Try (How Sweet It Is) | Semifinalist | ||
| 2019 | BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards | Best Musical Director- Local | The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals | Winner | |
| 2021 | Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA) | Best Original Song- Independent Film | CODA | Beyond the Shore performed by Emilia Jones | Winner |
| 2022 | Satellite Awards | Best Original Song | CODA | Beyond the Shore performed by Emilia Jones | Nominated |
Personal Life[]
Matt currently resides in Los Angeles. He greatly enjoys the sci-fi genre especially Star Trek.
Gallery
 Click here to view the gallery. |