Login

Enter your username and password

Nadia was born in South Africa in 1958. She graduated with a B.Mus.Ed. majoring in piano performance from the University of the Free State in 1981. She moved to Sydney in 1983 and became an accredited private music teacher. .

Nadia has performed as solo pianist, accompanist and with several ensembles for many years. She returned to further study at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2001 where she studied jazz piano with Paul McNamara. She completed an Associate Diploma in Jazz Studies at the end of 2002, followed by a Master of Music (Composition) under the supervision of American composer William Motzing during 2003-2004. Nadia graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy in December 2015, having studied composition with Matthew Hindson and Carl Vine.

Her compositions for small and large jazz ensemble, chamber ensemble, and piano have been performed at various venues in Australia and South Africa. Since 2011 her compositions have been performed/recorded by the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra; the Sydney Conservatorium Orchestra, Wind Symphony, Saxophone Orchestra and Jazz Orchestra respectively; the Sydney Symphony Fellows; the Divergence Jazz Orchestra; the Sydney Camerata and David Groves; Nathan Henshaw and Tim Fisher; Jason Noble; the Melbourne Composers Big Band; the University of Melbourne Saxophone Ensemble; and the University of NSW Jazz Orchestra.

The Sirens Big Band included her composition The Music In My Dreams on their 2012 debut album Kali and the Time of Change. Her Suite for String Quartet was recorded by the Odeion String Quartet in 2018 for their album Colours of the Free State. In April 2022 her Concerto for Jazz Quartet and Orchestra, Blue, Black and White, was premiered in Perth by the WAAPA Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jon Tooby and jazz quartet led by Jamie Oehlers. In September 2025 Anticipation for String Quintet was performed by the Sydney Symphony Fellows under the direction of Richard Mills. It was recorded and broadcast by the ABC.

She believes her compositional style has evolved as a fusion of Western art music with jazz, popular music and South-East African music. Her compositions include sections open for improvisation or notated solos for instrumentalists in the style of jazz improvisations.

Nadia Burgess — current to February 2026