Asha Melvani
Asha Melvani, born in New York City, started playing piano at Greenwich House Music School at the age of three. At age seven, she performed her first composition, Greenwich House Blues. Since then, Asha has dabbled in many different instruments, studying harp with Brandy Younger and playing cello for her school orchestra. She has also been studying alto saxophone with Adam Kolker since thirteen, which introduced her to jazz. She became interested in improvisation, leading her back to her previous interest in composition. At age fifteen, Asha decided to apply to study composition at the Juilliard Pre-College, where she currently studies with Daniel Felsenfeld. She has also attended other music and jazz programs such as chamber music camp at Third Street Music School, ALJA as lead alto saxophone, a year-round program at The Chamber Music Center of New York (CMC), and Litchfield Jazz Camp for jazz piano and saxophone. Recently, in June of 2024, Asha was accepted as one of ten composers to attend the Cascade Composers Workshop with Juilliard dean David Ludwig, where she had her first orchestra piece premiered by the Symphony Tacoma.