Visionary Canadian composer and pianist, Matt Choboter’s music paints subliminal sound narratives within Contemporary Music. Informed by non-western cultures and eclectic spiritualism, he embraces liminal psychology and dream work; a panpsychist ecology; and a musical practice which absorbs distinct features of Just Intonation, South Indian classical and Balinese Gamelan.
Choboter’s music invites reflection into the deep past whether on a personal or collective scale. The process has been nourished by travels to places like Chennai (studying oral musical traditions of South India), Bali (researching gamelan tuning and instrument building), Delphi (explorations into myths of ancient Greece) and the Dordogne Valley (delving into palaeolithic cave art of southern France).
An international performer, improviser and commissioned composer – nominated as the “2025 Jazz Composer of the Year” by the Danish Music Awards – he collaborates with festivals like Sacrum Profanum (PL), Copenhagen Jazz Festival, CPH Organ Sound Art Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival, PULSAR festival, Aarhus Jazz Festival and Den Andre Festivalen (NO).
Based in Copenhagen, he leads ensembles like Juniper Fuse, Hypnagogia and solo performance-installation project, Air Strings Wood. He works with international artists like Lotte Anker, Trichy Sankaran, Jakob Kullberg, Maria Faust, Peter Bruun, François Houle and Peggy Lee. Releasing on labels like KAIROS (AU), Inner Circle Music (NY), ILK Music (DK) and Songlines Recordings (CAN), his music has been described as: “ephemeral and beautifully fragile” (Passive Aggressive, DK), “A realized musical dream” (MusicWorks, CAN) and music that “expands and blows the mind” (London Jazz News).
Choboter’s recent releases, “Postcards of Nostalgia” and “Sleep Inertia” were heralded “Best Jazz on Bandcamp” for 2022 and 2023. The latter also made Best on AllAboutJazz. Dave Sumner writes that the music is – “at times heavy and impenetrable, other times soft and ethereal, but always in motion and perpetually transforming”.
In 2025 Matt co-founded the Copenhagen Microtonal Community. The initiative collaborates with KoncertKirken, organizing concerts and workshops. The initiative is an open and accepting community space where musicians, composer and creatives of various kinds can together embody microtonality and its application to the wider world.
Matt holds a European Jazz Masters and Advanced Post Diploma in Composition and research from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. His work with just intonation, prepared microtonal piano and forest installations continue to be a nucleus for surprising and ambitious interdisciplinary collaboration.
