Slovak composer and conductor Matej Sloboda studied at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (Ivan Buffa), the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna (Detlev Müller-Siemens), and the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz (Beat Furrer). Since 2019, he has been working on his PhD at the Janáčk Academy of Performing Arts in Brno (Ivo Medek), which has allowed him to study at the Universität der Künste in Berlin (Marc Sabat) in the 2021/22 academic year. His work includes compositions for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo instruments, choir, and chamber groups with solo, as well as electro-acoustic and improvised works. Sloboda has participated in international composition courses at Ostrava Days, the Trstěnice Symposium, Warsaw Autumn, Campus – Münchener Biennale seminars, consulting his music with composers including Tristan Murail, Kaija Saariaho, Zygmund Krauze, Peter Adriaansz, Ulrich Krieger, Raphael Cendo, or Martin Matalon. Since the foundation of the EnsembleSpectrum chamber group in 2012, he has served as its artistic director and dramaturg, performing at concerts and festivals dedicated to contemporary music both at home and abroad. As a conductor, he presents works by both international and Slovak composers, most of these as Slovak or world premieres. Since 2019, Sloboda has also ran a collective of experimental music with Lenka Novosedlíková and Eva Hrušková – Critical Band.