Melissa Aldana in Mexico City

Melissa Aldana is a Chilean tenor saxophonist and composer, born in Santiago in 1988. She plays modern jazz rooted in post-bop and became the first woman to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. Her albums include Back Home, Visions, 12 Stars and Echoes of the Inner Prophet. In 2013, Melissa Aldana performed in the Monk competition finals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. She was an artist-in-residence at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2019, combining festival performances with educational work, and she has since led her own small groups at New York’s Village Vanguard.