Chiara Minotto

Chiara Minotto is a young Sydney-based composer and jazz saxophonist who works across jazz, chamber, and media composition. Her music explores restraint and subtlety, using texture and timbre to create organic musical landscapes. At the centre of her creative practice is an ongoing commitment to developing her compositional voice and contributing to a more gender-inclusive jazz scene.

In 2025, she graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with First Class Honours in Composition for Creative Industries, studying with Andrew Robertson, and now works casually within the Conservatorium’s composition department. Her works have been performed by the Sydney Youth Orchestra, University of New South Wales, Mosaic, Spectra, and the Sydney Conservatorium Jazz Orchestras. Alongside her studies, she undertook mentorships in jazz composition with Miho Hazama through the Women In Jazz Organization (WIJO), composition and conducting with Claudia Doeffinger, and workshops with the Jazz Composer Co-Op.

In 2025, she founded and led Mary Lou & Beyond, an all-female and gender-diverse big band for the SIMA Women's Jazz Festival, and launched the New Dynamic Orchestra, a large ensemble bringing together emerging musicians from Sydney’s jazz and improvised music scene. The ensemble celebrates tradition, innovative composition, unheard voices, and premieres new works. It aims to advance big band music by highlighting and celebrating the work of female composers—past and present—who have often been left out of typical programming, creating a “new dynamic” and a new normal. Its debut performance sold nearly 150 tickets, and she continues to develop the ensemble through performances and recording projects.