Eduardo Mata was born in Mexico City on September 5, 1942, and died on January 4, 1995. He studied composition at the National Music Conservatory. At a quite young age, he became a conductor of several orchestras: resident for the Berkshire Music Center Festival Orchestra (1964); regular for the Symphony Orchestra of Guadalajara; artistic conductor for the Symphony Orchestra of the University, which later became the Philharmonic Orchestra of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in 1972 (1966 to 1975); resident for the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra (1974 to 1978); musical conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (since 1977); temporary conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (since 1974); on concert tour around Austria, Bulgaria and Mexico; guest conductor of the most important philharmonic orchestras of East Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and the U.S.A. His main activity included recording Mexican works. Mata was the Head of the Music Department of the UNAM (1965 to 1972) and Opera artistic counselor and director of Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (the National Fine Arts Institute). Since August 9, 1984, he became a member of El Colegio Nacional.