Matej Sloboda (1988) is a Slovak composer, musician, and conductor. He studied composition in Bratislava, Graz, and Vienna, and took part in exchange programs at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clarita, USA. He is the founder of the acclaimed project EnsembleSpectrum and one third of the experimental music collective Critical Band.

Composer and musician Matej Sloboda describes one of his current projects as follows: “For several years now, I’ve been completely absorbed by the fundamental essence of sound. I’ve realized that I don’t need contrast, I don’t need drama, I don’t even need tones. One sound is enough for me, or a harmony of sounds, a multitude of sounds, tuned in an interesting way, or coloured in an interesting way, or beautiful in some other sense. I can fix my attention on such a sound completely and listen to it for a long time, delighting in it. I don’t need to refine or polish it. I enjoy it as I find it. Although this may sound like a contradiction, I also enjoy the slow evolution of sound. From one sound to another, from one element to the next. I like its weathering, but also its ripening. I like a single standing line and I like, after a while, discovering that there are several of them. I like the ripples that sounds create: concordant and resonant, sometimes sweet, sometimes jagged, yet peaceful in their essence; and also discordant, soft, inwardly pulsing, restless, resonating. It’s a different kind of resonance. Like gazing into fire, watching a waterfall, the shimmer of light on dancing leaves; dancing like inflatable figures tethered to the ground. A microscopically active world. Macroscopically still. Seemingly. I enjoy listening to time. We also enjoy that.