Matt is a Ph.D. candidate in Musicology at Louisiana State University, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance also from LSU. His research focuses on the influence of Catholic and Anglican religion on the composers Franz Liszt and Christopher Tye. As a concert pianist, Matt has performed in Serbia, South Africa, Costa Rica, and more than twenty of the United States as soloist, chamber musician, and piano concerto soloist with orchestras. He has directed choirs, conducted operas (sometimes from the harpsichord), and taught classes in music theory, aural skills, class piano, music history, and applied piano at universities and performing arts high schools. He is a council member for the American Musicological Society, and works professionally as a pianist, organist, and harpsichordist. Matt has previously served as music director in Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Baptist churches.