Matt Roben
Professional Circus Artist and Accordionist
Chicago, IL
"The accordion pickup is FANTASTIC!! Small and so simple to use, it is ridiculous. I run my accordion pickup with a wireless pack on my accordion and I sound like a BEAST. I wish I had this product years ago. The design is rock solid and I can see years of excellent usage from it."
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BIO:
Since 2008, Matt has been working with the Midnight Circus, performing his acrobatic bike routine and a 30' handstand at their Halloween Spooktacular, presented by the City of Chicago in Daley Plaza, a free show for everyone. He is also a regular cast member of their Circus in the Parks tour. Matt is an accomplished trade show presenter and speaker who has worked at dozens of events around the country for companies including Siemens, Oracle, Manitowac, NTN, Visit Britain, Pogo Linux and Zirmed. Every Tuesday evening you can find Matt at the Shedd Aquarium where he is a marine mammal diver. This volunteer position affords him the pleasure of scuba diving with dolphins and beluga whales, and then cleaning up their "leftovers." He is also a dive presenter in their Caribbean Reef tank, educating the public about the reef environment while feeding fish, sharks, giant sea turtles and sting-rays. He can be seen most Monday afternoons during one of the presentations between 1-4 pm. He has over 1,000 volunteer hours from the last 11 years of service. Matt has competed in Triathlons, a great mental and physical focus- swimming, biking and running up to 6 days a week. He has completed the Vineman 70.3, and the Steelhead 70.3, both half Ironman length races.
In 2005, Matt started going to college and graduated from UIC in 2009 with a BS in Human Nutrition. He is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer. On March 22, 2009, Matt was married to the love of his life, Emily, and spent a week in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He loves to cook and is hoping to spend time, working with some local chefs, improving his culinary skills. In 2010 Matt worked with Lyric Opera of Chicago, performing as a flying witch, a soldier, and an Assassin in Verdi's Macbeth. Immediately after, he spent five weeks performing at Global Village in Dubai on 60' sway poles. He then spent 2 weeks traveling through Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand with his oldest friend- his twin sister, Carly. The day she got home from her trip, her boyfriend Sean proposed to her! She said yes and they are now happily married. 2011 was just as exciting. Matt worked on another show at the Actors Gymnasium starring as the main character in Lost and Found: A Recycled Circus, performed with the Midnight Circus at the Taste of Chicago, and with the Soul Sonik Circus at the Old Town Folk and Roots Festival. In 2012, Matt did a three month tour of the Caribbean and Mediterranean from February through April, performing his acrobatic bicycle act onboard the cruise ship, The MSC Poesia. Unfortunately, while on his way home from Europe, he was robbed and had his custom circus bike stolen. When he got home he immediately began rehearsing with the Midnight Circus for the Look Both Ways Street Festival in Washington DC, which ran May 6-12. The Midnight Circus also performed seven weeks of sold out shows this fall for Circus in the Parks in Chicago and another successful season of their Halloween Spooktacular at Daley Plaza. November saw Matt performing with Cirque Musica at the Ft. Worth Symphony and in December, he began rehearsals for Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg which he performed in February 2013 at Lyric Opera of Chicago.