Hedwig Janko

About

Hedwig Janko is a jazz saxophonist and composer based in Hamburg, Germany. Born in 2001 near Leipzig, she began her musical journey at the age of five, studying piano. Throughout her youth, she expanded her skills by attending music theory and percussion classes, eventually discovering the saxophone at age eleven. Hedwig attended the Rudolf Hildebrand Schule in Markkleeberg, a secondary school specialising in classical music, vocal training, and choral work, and became an active member of various big bands and jazz ensembles in Leipzig.

Hedwig later enrolled in a pre-collegiate program at Neue Musik Leipzig. Since October 2021, she has been studying jazz saxophone, flute, and clarinet at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg under the guidance of Prof. Fiete Felsch (NDR Bigband), Gabriel Coburger, and Asya Fateyeva.

Echoes of Hedwig’s musical inquiry were already present in her previous trio work of homes and distances, where themes of intimacy and the longing for a place to finally arrive found their musical expression.
Building on that foundation, her current project HEDWIG JANKO’S D I A L E C T expands both musically and conceptually, deepening her exploration of musical communication as a multi-voiced dialogue. Personal sound languages, shaped by individual experience, come together in a music that reveals both individuality and shared resonance.
Her compositions often begin as softly hummed melodies—intuitive, lyrical lines that carry the emotional essence of a piece. These fragments take shape and deepen as they are brought to life by the musicians of her band, unfolding in vibrant conversations between saxophone, trombone, vibraphone, bass, and drums. It is in this collaborative space that the melodies begin to breathe, transform, and truly come alive.

Beyond her own creative projects, Hedwig is teaching at the private music school, Musikschule Karin Klose, in Hamburg, and is deeply involved in the local jazz scene, organising the Jazz Kitchen series for young musicians. She also serves on the executive board of the Jazz Federation Hamburg e.V., where she’s helping to shape the future of jazz in the city.