At age 26, jazz trumpeter and vocalist Bria Skonberg has been performing on stage for over 20 years. Originally from Chilliwack, BC, she now resides in Vancouver where she has completed a Degree in Jazz Performance from Capilano University.
Since getting into jazz ten years ago Bria has been featured as a bandleader and guest artist all over North America, Europe, China and Japan playing alongside such greats as Warren and Allan Vache, Bucky Pizzarelli and Howard Alden. In July of 2009 she was one of four performers selected for an International Young Artists’ Showcase at the Jazz a Juan Festival in Antibes, France. She has been the recipient of the CBC Jazz Award of Merit (2006), and the Kobe Jazz Street Friendship Award given at the Breda Jazz Festival in Holland in 2007. Early in 2008 Bria was a guest on Riverwalk Jazz with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band representing the “Next Generation of Jazz”.
In Vancouver she leads and manages Bria’s Hot Five and The Big Bang Jazz Band, and performs as a soloist and vocalist with Canadian icon Dal Richards and his Orchestra both live and on his last two albums. She is a co-founder of the groundbreaking all female jazz group, Mighty Aphrodite, comprised of members from the US and Canada.
In 2009 Bria released her first solo album “Fresh” that features original songs and arrangements of jazz and mainstream standards. |
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She is an active advocate for young musicians, working as a teacher/alumni at the Sacramento Jazz Camp and Camp Heebie Jeebies in Port Angeles, as well as programming, narrating and performing educational school shows for students ranging from Kingergarten to College. Intent on giving back, she is also active on the Board of Directors for the annual Chilliwack Jazz Festival.
The Bria Skonberg Band is:
Bria Skonberg - trumpet and vocals
Sean Cronin - bass
Solomon Douglas - piano
Jesse Cahill - drums |
