Iara Sosalla Serodio
What fascinates you most about music? What really fascinates me about music is the impact it can have on people. Why can one song evoke the greatest feelings of happiness in some people, while others find the same song absolutely terrible? Why can I dance to some music but not to others? Why does music play such a huge role in my life but none at all in the lives of others?
Which musician has influenced you the most so far? When I think about the music I grew up with and how often and for how long I listened to it, Brazilian music has had a huge influence on me. That includes musicians and composers like Tom Jobim, Djavan, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento, and Elis Regina. On the tenor saxophone, Wayne Shorter, Melissa Aldana, Sonny Rollins, and Joe Henderson have also played a major role.
Which band or soloist have you always wanted to share the stage with? Earth, Wind & Fire in the horn section. And I want everyone in the audience to dance.
What’s your life like outside of music? I love drinking coffee and chatting with my friends in the sun. I absolutely love to dance, I enjoy going for walks, people-watching, and I also like to color in the occasional mandala to unwind.
Iara Serodio (b. 2003) is a jazz saxophonist from Cologne.
Since 2023, Iara Serodio has been studying jazz/pop tenor saxophone with Niels Klein at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. Since April 2025, she has also been a member of the NRW Youth Jazz Orchestra, with which she has performed concerts at venues including the Philharmonie Essen, the Konzerthaus Dortmund, and the Cologne Philharmonic Hall. With her “Iara Serodio Quintet,” she made her debut in January 2026 at the “Jazz Against The Machine Festival” organized by the Jazz/Pop Department of the Cologne University of Music and Dance.
She began preparing for the entrance exam for the music academy in 2022 through the preparatory program at the City West Berlin Music School, where she took theory and history classes in addition to instrumental lessons in jazz saxophone. There she performed with the “Big Band Berlin Jazz Composers Orchestra JayJayBeCe” and appeared regularly in Berlin jazz clubs with, among others, the “Ensemble Oktopuzzle” under the direction of bassist Horst Nonnenmacher.
She began her saxophone training at the age of 13, starting with the classical alto saxophone. In 2018, she won third prize in the solo category at the “Bundeswettbewerb Jugend Musiziert” competition with the alto saxophone. From the age of 15, she became increasingly interested in jazz. Starting in 2018, she played in the school big band at Humboldt Gymnasium Ulm, where she graduated in 2021 with an advanced course in music, and in 2019 attended a three-day jazz workshop for students with Fola Dada and Joo Kraus.
Her passion for the saxophone is rooted in many years of musical training. From 2013 to 2015, she studied clarinet in the wind ensemble class at Humboldt Gymnasium in Ulm and played in the school’s ensemble. At the age of six, she began taking violin lessons, which she continued until she graduated from high school. As a violinist, she performed in various symphony and string orchestras as well as chamber music ensembles until 2020.
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
August 21, 2003 . Born in New York, USA
EDUCATION
July 2021 . High school diploma with a GPA of 1.6
2013 – 2021 . Humboldt-Gymnasium Ulm
2009 – 2013 . German-Portuguese Elementary School Neues Tor in Berlin Mitte
MUSICAL BACKGROUND
since Apr. 2025 . Member of the JJO-NRW
since Oct. 2023 . Studying with Niels Klein at the Cologne University of Music and Dance
March 2022 – July 2023 . Preparatory studies at the City West Berlin Music School – during this time, switched from alto to tenor saxophone
2021 . at age 18 . Switched from primary instrument (classical violin) to jazz saxophone with the goal of studying jazz saxophone
2016 . at age 13 . Switch from clarinet to classical alto saxophone
2013 . at age 10 . Began playing clarinet in a wind instrument class
2009 . at age 6 . Began playing violin . Main instrument until the age of 18
