Born in Salvador, Brazil, Matheus Caldas started his musical journey at the age of 13 when he first picked up a guitar. He remained a self-taught musician until he got accepted to the music program at York University in 2017. There, he was mentored by veteran Toronto jazz artists such as Robb Cappelletto, Artie Roth and Mark Einsenman.

With a curious mind and open ears, Matheus seeks a holistic understanding of music, always studying and absorbing influences from a diverse pallet of genres and applying what is learned to his guitar playing.

One of his groups, the Maddie Zeidenberg Quintet, was selected by a jury of specialists to be part of the 2020 edition of the Toronto Undergraduate Jazz Festival. Besides the quintet, he performs as a sideman for other emerging artists in Toronto’s music scene such as Frail Fragment, Dalia Dargazli and Daniel Monte. Matheus also leads the alt-rock/experimental project The Nobody, which released its debut EP Out of I, in 2018.

Having had training in music production at Trebas Institute in 2013, he uses such skill set to mix music, being in charge of putting together recordings by York University’s R&B ensemble led by professor Mike Cado. He also scores indie films, having done original soundtracks for four features by director Stuart G. Robertson.

In 2019, during his third academic year at York University, Caldas was humbled to receive the Brazilian Ball Support Award and Sorbara Award in Music. Early in 2021, he was the recipient of the Rochelle Koskie Jazz Student Scholarship.