Israeli American composer Mátti Kovler creates works that span opera, experimental music theater, and world music. Often rooted in Jewish mysticism, his music seeks to transcend boundaries of geography and language, illuminating a shared human experience.

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Born in Moscow and raised in Jerusalem, Kovler’s music has been commissioned by Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, and the Israel Festival, and performed worldwide by the Israel Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, Fox Studios Symphony, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, among others. He is a recipient of fellowships at Tanglewood, Aspen, and Accademia Chigiana, as well as two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the Theodore Presser Award, and the Brother Thomas Fellowship.

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Kovler’s work draws on a wide range of influences—from Jewish folklore and ritual to experimental theater and the writings of Antonin Artaud—blending styles into music of dramatic scope that is at once mystical, raw, and deeply human. A formative influence was his mentor, the late Israeli composer André Hajdu, whose own artistic and spiritual journey continues to resonate in Kovler’s work.

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He is the founder and artistic director of Floating Tower, a collective of immigrant and refugee musicians. Since 2014, Floating Tower has produced over thirty productions across the United States, Israel, China, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Russia, and Ukraine. Highlights include The Seekers of Light, featuring Israeli and Iranian musicians at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts; The Drumf and the Rheingold, an operatic apocalypse developed in New York City; and Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, a large-scale work exploring musical parallels between Ukrainian, Jewish, Greek, and Balkan traditions, developed at the Adams Theater in the Berkshires.

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Since 2020, Kovler has also operated the Floating Tower Artist Retreat at the historic Chase Hill estate in North Adams, Massachusetts. The retreat has hosted over 100 refugee and immigrant artists in residencies ranging from several days to several months, all offered free of charge. Kovler splits his time between Brooklyn, New York and North Adams, Massachusetts, where he lives with his husband and son.