Greenwich, CT native Rob Mathes is an unassuming, quiet legend in the music industry. The Emmy®-winning, Tony® and Grammy®-nominated arranger/composer and music producer/director has built a remarkable career over four decades as the magician behind the most celebrated musical performances of our time.

Rob Mathes has produced recordings by Sting, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Bettye LaVette, Vanessa Williams, the band Panic at The Disco, among others.

He won the Emmy® for his work on the Kennedy Center Honors, a program he musically directed for over a decade. He directed Obama’s Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial and PBS’s Great Performances 40th Anniversary Special. He orchestrated the last three Bruce Springsteen records along with musically directed, and arranged his Western Stars film.

Mathes has arranged and conducted music for artists such as Elton John, Lou Reed, Beyoncé, Beck, James Taylor, Jay Z, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, and Tony Bennett, along with classical artists like Yo Yo Ma, Luciano Pavarotti, and Renée Fleming.

He wrote the soundtrack for two HBO documentaries, one about Thurgood Marshall starring Lawrence Fishburne and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Herblock, both scores nominated for Emmys®. He has written music for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Nashville Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops and the Royal Philharmonic. 

He musically directed and orchestrated Sting’s Broadway show The Last Ship. 

He orchestrated and conducted the song score for the hit film The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, wrote all of the arrangements for the  #1 record Pray for The Wicked by Panic at The Disco (including the hit “High Hopes”), and did string arrangements for several songs on the soundtrack of the hit film KPop Demon Hunters.

He has released a number of pop records under his own name, most notably Evening Train and Orchestral Songs, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Rob Mathes photo © Chi Chi Ubiña Photography