"Monica 'Nica' Agosti started to take singing lessons with private teachers as a teenager and immediately experimented with different musical genres by playing in rock, soul, jazz bands, as well as in musicals and lounge music gigs.

While studying Digital Communication in Milan she took singing lessons with Paola Folli and later joined the jazz singing class of the "Milestone School of Music" in Piacenza, taught by Betty Quartieri, Paola Quagliata and Debora Lombardo. Since 2008 she has been performing with local musicians including Renato Podestà, Mauro Sereno, Roberto Lupo, Giovanni Guerretti, Paolo Badiini, Gianni Satta, Alex Carreri, Mario Zara, Erminio Cella, Tito Mangialajo Rantzer and Alessandro Cassani.

Her determination to learn more about jazz grew over time and she decided to take part in numerous seminars, including "Nuoro Jazz" and the "Siena Jazz Summer Workshop", with national and international teachers such as Steve Lehman, Sheila Jordan, Tiziana Ghiglioni, John Taylor, Joe Sanders, Nir Felder, Franco d'Andrea, Theo Bleckmann, Jen Shyu, Cristina Zavalloni, Darmon Meader, Rosana Eckert, Maria Pia De Vito and Diana Torto.

In 2014 she was a finalist in the 'Chicco Bettinardi' National Competition.

In 2015 she was the lead singer of her trio with Mario Zara (piano) and Alex Carreri (electric bass), with whom she explored an Ecm sound repertoire. In 2016, her "NicaSphere" project with Gianni Satta (trumpet), Giovanni Guerretti (hammond organ) and Oberdan Galvani (drums) was a tribute to 1950/60s jazz. Her projects were featured in several events and festivals including "Summertime in Jazz", "Soresina Jazz Fest" and "Piacenza Suona Jazz".

Also in 2015, she opened a concert during the prestigious Siena Jazz International Summer Workshop with the SJU Orchestra conducted by Maestro Roberto Spadoni with guests Fulvio Sigurtà and Achille Succi.

In 2019 she graduated in Jazz Singing from Siena Jazz University, where she studied with Claudia Pantalone, Diana Torto, Giovanni Falzone, Alessandro Giachero, Marco Tamburini, Silvia Bolognesi, Maurizio Giammarco, Stefano Zenni, Francesco Martinelli, Roberto Rossi, Walter Paoli, Tomaso Lama, Tony Cattano, Roberto Spadoni and Achille Succi, among others. She joined masterclasses held by leading international jazz artists including Tim Berne, Steve Lehman, Michael Blake and John Taylor, and presented a research thesis on saxophonist Ornette Coleman.

In 2020 she joined the two-year course in Jazz Singing at Siena Jazz University, with teachers including Seamus Blake, Ziv Ravitz, Diana Torto, David Linx, Greg Burk, Nico Gori, Logan Richardson, Jeff Ballard, Jim Black and Jesse Davis.

Throughout her academic career, she also studied in Siena with Stefano Battaglia, with whom she undertook a long journey of musical research concerning a-idiomatic improvisation, and deepened his research in the field of improvisation and research with, among others, Phil Minton and Lauren Newton.

In October 2021 she presented "Ornettiana" as a preview for the "Piacenza Jazz Fest", her new project for pianoless quintet "Shape X Ensemble" composed by Tobia Bondesan (alto sax), Tommaso Iacoviello (trumpet), Francesco Sarrini (double bass), Giuseppe Sardina (drums), largely characterised by improvised music and combining original lyrics and songs with pieces by Ornette Coleman.

This album was recorded in Arezzo, at Francesco Ponticelli's "Cicaleto Recording Studio", and It was released for the Aut Records label on 12th September 2022.

"Ornettiana" received from California Global Music Awards' silver medal honors by category free improvisation and female vocalist, edition of October 2022.

"Ornettiana" was nominated among Musica Jazz "Albums of the year" Chart for the annual Top Jazz 2022.

"Monica Nica Agosti" was nominated among New Talent Chart for the annual Top Jazz 2022.

She is co-author of the book "365+1 Giorni di Jazz" published on 10 November 2022 by Zecchini Editore."

Italian trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He is known for the group ShapeX.

Tobia Bondesan is an Italian saxophonist, composer, arranger and conductor, born in 1990.He is known for the groups Big Monitors, BlueRing-Improvisers, Brotherhood (4), Tower Jazz Composers Orchestra, ShapeX

Double bassist involved in avant-garde jazz and improvisational ensembles in Italy. He is known for the group ShapeX.

Drummer and percussionist born in 1985 in Palermo, active in experimental and improvised music. He is known for the groups BlueRing-Improvisers, Quasimodo, ShapeX.