January Thaw to continue with Bria Skonberg

HACKETTSTOWN — Hailing from West Coast Canada and now living in New York City, award winning trumpeter, vocalist and composer Bria Skonberg is "poised to be one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation."

Now she joins Centenary Stage Company’s January Thaw Music Festival on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. in the Lackland Center.

Since moving to New York in in 2010 she has earned a Jazz Journalists’ Association nomination for “Up and Coming Jazz Artist of The Year” and has been included twice in Downbeat Magazine’s Rising Star Critics‘ Poll. She has recently been honored with a New York Bistro Award for “Outstanding Jazz Artist” and swept the 2014 Hot House Jazz Magazine Awards in all categories nominated: Best Jazz Artist, Best Trumpet, Best Female Vocalist and Best Group for the Bria Skonberg Quartet. She has headlined at major event spaces such as Symphony Space, Dizzy’s Coca Cola, the Iridium, Birdland and Cafe Carlyle. She has been featured on jazz luminary Wycliffe Gordon’s projects and studied with Warren Vache.

Best known for her knowledge of classic jazz and instigative nature, she is now creating an adventurous style rooted in New Orleans jazz and blues featuring mostly her original compositions. Her debut US release "So Is the Day" peaked at #7 on the U.S. National jazz charts; the 2014 follow up release "Into Your Own" features percussionist Mino Cinelu (Miles Davis, Weather Report). She has volunteered at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens, is co-founder of the New York Hot Jazz Festival and a founding director of the New York Hot Jazz Camp set to launch in 2016.

The performance is Saturday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. in the Sitnik Theatre of the Lackland Center. Tickets for Bria Skonberg Quintet are $22.50 for adults and $15.00 for children under 12. Centenary Stage Company is also offering a special educational discount to middle/high school band and music students at $5 a ticket. As with all concerts, jazz and special events all ticket orders increase $5 on the day of the performance. All ticket sales are final.

For more information or to purchase tickets visit centenarystageco.org or call the Centenary Stage Company box office at (908) 979–0900. The CSC box office is open Monday through Friday from 1–5 p.m. and two hours prior to every performance. The box office is located in the Lackland Center at 715 Grand Ave. Hackettstown, NJ 07840.