Matheus Wendt approaches music as both a guitarist and composer, building a language where Brazilian instrumental music, contemporary jazz, improvisation, and world music meet through attentive listening. Born in São José do Hortêncio, Rio Grande do Sul, and now based in Porto Alegre, Wendt has developed his artistic identity alongside teaching. His path began with the acoustic guitar at seven, progressed to electric guitar at eleven, and became professional during his teenage years through performances with a wind orchestra and bands.
That early experience laid the foundation for an artist interested in musical dialogue. Formal studies at Faculdades EST/ESEP, where he focused on guitar with James Liberato, strengthened his connection to Brazilian instrumental music and jazz. His subsequent Popular Music degree at UFRGS expanded that perspective, while his work as a guitar, acoustic guitar, and theory teacher keeps education central to his practice.
“Dança dos Ventos” introduces The Unfolding, Wendt’s second album, a nine-composition project developing ideas from Long Story Short. The album’s title reflects unfolding as an ongoing process of transformation, and its music embraces that concept through interaction, improvisation, and construction. Composition provides the framework, but attentive communication between musicians gives the pieces their movement and personality.
“Dança dos Ventos” grew from harmonic studies influenced by Wayne Shorter and takes a simple, cyclical melody as its starting point. That repetition creates continuous motion, while the title evokes the ritual intensity associated with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. Wendt reimagines that sense of movement within the quartet’s contemporary Brazilian jazz vocabulary, letting rhythm, harmony, and improvisation shape the experience.
The project also reflects an artist increasingly recognized within Brazil’s instrumental scene. In 2024, Wendt received the Açorianos Music Award for Best Instrumental Music Producer and earned nominations for composition, instrumental performance, interpretation, and album. He was also a finalist for a Prêmio Profissionais da Música award for Best Digital Single.
His quartet has established a presence across Porto Alegre and Rio Grande do Sul, performing at cultural events and respected venues across the region. Those experiences reinforce the collective spirit that defines The Unfolding.
Matheus Wendt’s music is about movement: between composition and improvisation, tradition and experimentation, teaching and performance. “Dança dos Ventos” captures that philosophy with clarity, inviting listeners into a constantly evolving musical conversation. Through refined guitar work, adventurous harmony, and ensemble sensitivity, Wendt continues shaping an instrumental identity that feels rooted, curious, and genuinely alive.