bio

Monika Ciernia - saxophonist, composer, producer, Univ.Prof., DJ

Monika grew up as a Polish kid in Germany; with her close relatives all being engineers or architects, she sees herself as an architect of sound. She learned to play 7 instruments, the saxophone became her favorite. After intensive studies in jazz, popmusic and composition / music theory she obtained three masters of arts, graduating from the world’s top awared music university of Vienna, Austria (MDW), and the school of music Munich, Germany (HfM).

With her saxophone, she translates rough and cool jazz sounds just as convincingly as crystal clear timbres of classical music. She captures her audience improvising to beats created by DJs as well as to energetic balkan-rhythms.
The prominent features of her saxophone play are the broad dynamic range and a multi-faceted sound, and the effortless motion between catchy melodies and virtuoso improvisations.
Her stage performances are highlighted by her sweeping energy that she puts into her music, while she always makes communication with the audience a focal goal.

She is looking back at a successful career, having played in more than 25 countries worldwide, including big concert halls and festivals. She performed at the Shanghai Spring Music Festival (China), the Munich Philharmony (Germany), Opera Augsburg, Konzerthaus Vienna (Austria), Stadthalle Vienna, Jazzclub St. Petersburg (Russia), and many more.
The combination of her virtuoso skills and her winsome charisma have also made her one of the most sought-after soloists in the event sector - with over 140 corporate events per year she is also a well-known figure in Europe.

She is also the artistic director, arranger or driving force of numerous successful ensembles such as Melotronic (electronic music), Gemini (electric violin & saxophone) and Velvetto (vintage jazz band). As a studio musician, she can be heard on over 20 album productions by international artists in the fields of jazz, pop, hip-hop, soul, world music and classical music.

In addition to her career as a saxophonist and composer, she also looks after young artists as dean of studies and professor for media music (Univ.Prof.) - also teaching composition and pop saxophone - at the private university for music Vienna JMLU, and is working diligently on her dissertation in cultural management, which is supervised at the Vienna University of Music.

As a composer, Monika is particularly successful in the field of media music and orchestration. 
She works as a songwriter and arranger for several Film Music Libraries in Los Angeles, orchestrated or arranged commissioned works for opera stars like Erwin Schrott or Austropop greats such as Wolfgang Ambros and Stefanie Werger.
She also produced / composed the music for German TV series and feature films for ARD. Her focus is on orchestration for large ensembles as well as music production: as a media composer, Monika sees herself as a sound tinkerer, constantly experimenting with new sounds, instruments and effects, transforming not only saxophone sounds into alienated sounds from another world.

Besides her musical endeavors, Monika always had a passion for organizing and booking. After having worked for the big classical radio station Bayern4 Klassik as an author, and as a booker at NuCoast entertainment with artists like Elton John, Bryan Adams and Il Divo, she started her own booking agency ArtSonic that is successfully managing artists and providing custom solutions for entertainment in the event industry.