Danica Hobden is an Australian guitarist, improviser, and teacher currently based in Hamburg, Germany, with an active presence in both Europe and Australia. She enjoys crossing musical boundaries between folk, jazz, rock, and classical genres, as well as interdisciplinary explorations into theatre and film.
Danica is currently working on various projects including composing for her modern jazz quartet Warmbluetig, who released their debut album on vinyl and have performed at festivals including ELBJAZZ (2024), JazzOpen (2025), and the JazzHall Summer Festival (2024). The Quartet has also appeared in a JazzTied TV production, collaborated with the Hamburger Ballett, and performed with award-winning drummer Will Guthrie (AU/FR), a concert that was recorded and released as a live EP with video.
She also performs as part of Guitar Club, a duo with Hamburg-based guitarist Pouya Abdi. The duo has played shows both in Germany and Australia, with performances in curious and atmospheric venues such as inside the Oskar-Lühning-Teleskop (Bergedorf-Hamburg), at the Deutsche Seemannsmission (Hamburg-Altona), St. Jacobi Kirche Hamburg (home to the largest Baroque Organ in Northern Europe), and the before the St.-Petri-Dom in Bremen.
Other projects include exploring improvisation and testing experimental boundaries with Martín Zamorano’s avant-rock-jazz European Ecollective Ensemble and working on projects with composer Elizabeth Jigalin as New Music duo dnka+zil.
Active in Hamburg’s Free Improvisation scene, Danica regularly performs with Vlatko Kučan’s SPIIC+ ensemble, sharing the stage with guest artists such as Lukas Ligeti, Maya Homburger and Barry Guy, Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura, in venues such as the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Ligeti-Zentrum Harburg, Resonanz Raum, as well as in various interdisciplinary contexts.
In Australia, Danica has extensive experience as a session musician in pop, rock, and theatre contexts. She has worked with artists such as Courtney Act and Catherine Alcorn, performing at the Sydney Opera House and ELEVATE Sydney Festival, and has played guitar, banjo, and mandolin in pit orchestras for productions at the State Theatre and Hayes Theatre Co.
Danica is a graduate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, holding a Bachelor of Music Studies in Classical Guitar and a Bachelor of Music Performance in Jazz Guitar as well as a Master of Music (Dr. Langner Jazzmaster) through the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg with a focus on composition, having studied with her musical heroes Andrea Keller and Reinier Baas.
“The level of musicianship throughout the album is superb, but the real star here is Danica Hobden — as a guitarist, as an artist, as a composer, and a storyteller.” - Nikolas Fotakis, Australian Jazz 2024
“Hobden has crafted interlinked originals that not only reflect her compositional skills but also bring out the best in all six of her colleagues. Thanks to her leadership, both quartets are delightfully collaborative and the interpretations dynamic and captivating. These attributes make It Was Long Ago, It Will Be a Long Time one of the best debuts of 2024.” - Hrayr Attarian, All About Jazz 2024
“Not an album you’d want to rate or pigeonhole… one of the best debuts of the year…atmospheric floating images emerge alongside sweeping interiors – this has a stillness and devotion in a moment of maturing sound : an intensive care unit of melodic development and dramaturgy” - Clemens Verhooven, Verhoovens Jazz 2024