FRANCESCA GAZA

Francesca Gaza (1995) composes, sings, plays piano, and conducts. Her work inhabits the borders between jazz, new music, early music and songwriting — shaped by literature, poetry, and a deep curiosity about how distant things can resonate. Her music is characterized by finely shaped textures, unexpected timbral combinations, and a sensitivity to space, memory, and sonic presence. While echoes of Stravinsky, St. Vincent, Joni Mitchell, K. Saariaho, C. Gesualdo, and A. Schnittke may flicker through her work, they are absorbed and reshaped into something wholly original.

Her compositions have been commissioned by ensembles including Kambrass Quintet, Baroque Orchestra Il Pomo d’Oro, Ensemble Proton Bern, pourChœur, the Solothurner Singknaben, and Ensemble Phoenix Basel. Her choral cycle Post Sappho — a thirty-minute work for lightly amplified voices and live electronics, setting fragments of Sappho — was premiered by pourChœur in April 2025. She was awarded second prize in the 2023 composition competition of Ensemble Phoenix Basel, and first prize in the Fraumünster Kompositionswettbewerb in Zurich in 2021. In December 2025, SWR Kultur dedicated an episode of ARD Jazz Spotlight to her work — a one-hour portrait broadcast across the ARD network.

Her work continues in several upcoming projects: A Vague and Purple Hyacinth, a new piece for the Renaissance flute consort Hourglass directed by Liane Sadler, will premiere in late 2026 and engages with the poetry of Gaspara Stampa. Further new works for arciorgano and cornetto, as well as for piano duo, are in progress for the 2026/27 season. She has also been invited as an Emerging Artist to the International Young Composers & Conductors Academy (IYCA) in Ticino, where she will write for Ensemble Intercontemporain.

(For her complete list of works, click here.)

She leads two ensembles of her own making: Kugelförmigkeit, which unites twelve baroque, Renaissance, and contemporary instruments into a shared sonic language, and aminth, a quartet weaving together folk, jazz, and Renaissance traditions with a singer-songwriter sensibility. Kugelförmigkeit’s second album, Crown Shyness, will be released in August 2026 on New Amsterdam Records, New York — her American debut. Since 2023 she has conducted the Basel Jazz Orchestra, performing monthly at the Bird’s Eye Jazz Club in Basel and commissioning new works from composers and arrangers.

As a performer and sidewoman she has collaborated with Chase Kuesel, Francesco Orio, Oscar La Torre, and Katom, among others. Born in Germany to an Italian mother and Romanian father, she is based in Basel and part of both Basel’s and Florence’s vibrant art scene.

Francesca studied composition and vocals at the Jazzcampus Basel and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as well as at the Siena Jazz University and Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, mentored by Guillermo Klein, Lisette Spinnler, and Johannes Menke, among others.

Short Bio:

Francesca Gaza composes, sings, plays piano, and conducts. Her work inhabits the borders between new music, songwriting, jazz, and early music — shaped by literature, poetry, and a deep curiosity about how distant things can resonate. Her music is characterized by finely shaped textures, unexpected timbral combinations, and a sensitivity to space, memory, and sonic presence.

Her compositions have been commissioned by ensembles including Il Pomo d’Oro, Ensemble Proton Bern, and pourChœur, and she leads her own projects across Europe as both composer and performer. Since 2023 she has also conducted the Basel Jazz Orchestra. Born in Germany to an Italian mother and Romanian father, she is based in Basel.

She leads two ensembles of her own making: Kugelförmigkeit, which unites baroque, Renaissance, and contemporary instruments into a shared sonic language, and aminth, a quartet that weaves together folk, jazz, and Renaissance traditions with a singer-songwriter sensibility. Kugelförmigkeit’s second album, Crown Shyness, will be released in August 2026 on New Amsterdam Records, New York.