"Some of it reminds me of minimal music, the repetitions, the different layers that build up little by little, but she doesn’t hide behind them, she uses these techniques to express her own ideas. I find it wonderful how carefully she goes about it. When she’s onto an idea, she doesn’t just grab it, but approaches it carefully and gives the idea time to blossom." – Tuula Simon, WDR 3, "3 von jetzt" ("3 of now")

Sophia Jani is a German composer of contemporary classical music who takes a poetically minimalist approach to composition and belongs to a new generation of artists who were influenced early on by the boundlessness of the 21st century. She is the current Composer-in-Residence of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for the 2023-2026 seasons.

Her music has been performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Fabio Luisi, Carlos Miguel Prieto and Tabita Berglund, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under David Robertson, the Albany Symphony Orchestra under David Alan Miller, the Goldmund Quartet, the Barbican Quartet, vocal sextet Sjaella, violinist Melissa White, and cellist Benedict Kloeckner, among others. Performance venues include the Elbphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Meyerson Symphony Center, Heinz Hall, Isarphilharmonie, Baryshnikov Arts Center, MASS MoCa, ISSUE Project Room as well as New York Public Radio’s The Greene Space. She has also contributed music to successful film, theatre, dance and album projects.

Her Six Pieces for Solo Violin, that were released on Squama Recordings in 2024, has been praised as “a significant addition to the solo violin repertoire” (The Whole Note) and “a piece that feels timeless from the outset” (Bandcamp Best Contemporary Classical Music), with NPR calling her a “poet of the violin.” In 2023, Sophia Jani was the Musical Artist in Residence of the Arvo Pärt Centre. Her debut album of chamber works, 2022’s Music as a mirror, received a nomination for the German Classical Music Prize Opus Klassik.

In addition to her work as a composer, Jani is passionate about building a diverse and international community of artists that open-mindedly addresses the challenges notated music faces in the 21st century. To that end, she is one of the founders and artistic directors of "Feet Become Ears", which is a platform that commissions, presents, and celebrates contemporary chamber music.

Jani holds degrees from the University of Augsburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and the Yale University School of Music where she studied with Martin Bresnick and David Lang, made possible through the generous support of the Fulbright Foundation.