Video game enthusiast Matt Silverberg (AKA MarimbaMatt) has carved a niche in the music world thanks to his love of video game music and the marimba. He has arranged a plethora of video game and film music that have garnered thousands of views on YouTube and has performed as a marimba soloist at numerous conventions including MAGFest, VGMCon, and 2D Con (just to name 3!) and at festivals throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin.
His extensive performance experience isn’t limited to solo performing as he’s also performed with VocalEssence, the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, Heartland Marimba Quartet, and professional orchestras across the upper Midwest such as the Duluth, Dubuque, and La Crosse Symphonies.
He also performs in a percussion trio, Flipside Percussion, which gives educational concerts to K-12 schools all over Minnesota through the YourClassical Class Notes program. Matt is also joining the COMPAS performer roster this September where he can further spread the gospel of VGM (video game music).
Matt is a CoFounder, the Vice President, and Assistant Conductor of the TCGSO (Twin Cities Gamer Symphony Orchestra) a brand new community orchestra and the first in Minnesota that specializes in video game music. Their inaugural concert was held on January 17, 2025.
Matt released his debut album “Bottled Memories”, an electro/rock marimba album in March 2024 and released a Pokémon Album: “Pokémon: Mainly Marimba Version” in May 2025 (available on streaming services!).
Also a composer Matt’s compositions are published through Leading Tones Publications and Heartland Marimba Publications and have been performed at multiple universities and internationally.
He has extensive teaching experience, has given music clinics to schools and freelances throughout the Twin Cities.
Matt is a Marimba One artist and received his BFA from UW-Milwaukee and his Masters in Music from the University of Minnesota.
Teaching Artist Statement
When I’m teaching in a classroom setting I always try to keep the energy high. Having good energy usually translates into fun learning for my students, and if they students are having fun, they’re most likely going to learn a lot better than if they weren’t. If I’m giving an educational concert I like to get people involved somehow! Since I play perform a lot of video game music I’ll generally ask the audience some video game questions. I’ll also chat about the marimba since a lot people have never seen one before. A lot of my performance depends on the age of the audience as well. Younger kids might get less audience interaction seeing as their attention spans are generally shorter than older kids/adults, but I also change my approach to be more silly with them. A healthy amount of audience interaction and musical performance keeps people engaged throughout the entire performance.
Program Offerings
Performance
Video Game Music & Electro/Rock Marimba
This program fits great in both a performance and educational setting. With this program you get to hear a genre of music seldom performed (video game music) on an instrument not frequently performed on (the marimba)! This program also has original music in it. When being tailored to an educational setting, students will learn about the marimba and video game music as well as how to adapt music that they want to play for their instrument.
Resources needed or preferred for best presentation: A sound system and a way to plug in Matt’s sound interface (laptop & focursrite), a projector or monitor with an HDMI cable provided to play videos during the performance (not required but a bonus), and depending on the size/location of the venue microphones may be required. Space for an 8 foot marimba.
