"Jani, by contrast, freely luxuriates in sensuous beauty and (…) soaring lyricism."
(The Dallas Morning News)

"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."
(WDR 3)

"The extended consonant soundscapes of Janis concerto provided a distinct contrast to the more traditional Russian pieces on the program, yet it proved to be the hit of the evening." (Texas Classical Review)

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.
From 2023 to 2026, she held the position of Composer-in-Residence with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In 2023, she was Artist-in-Residence at the Arvo Pärt Centre in Laulasmaa, Estonia.

Her music has been commissioned and/or performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck, the 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, violinist Maiani da Silva and cellist Benedict Kloeckner, among others. Performance venues include the Elbphilharmonie, the Isarphilharmonie, Lincoln Center, Meyerson Symphony Center, Heinz Hall, Baryshnikov Arts Center, MASS MoCa, ISSUE Project Room as well as New York Public Radio’s The Greene Space and festivals such as Bang on a Can's Long Play Festival, Bravo!Vail, Tanglewood and DynamikFest Salzburg.

Her Six Pieces for Solo Violin, that were released on Squama Recordings in 2024, have 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 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.