NYC Trumpeter/Vocalist Bria Skonberg

NYC Trumpeter and Vocalist Bria Skonberg with the WWU Big Band I

“A millennial shaking up the jazz world”
Vanity Fair

Bria Skonberg is a Juno-award winning artist, 10x Downbeat Rising Star, recipient of the Legend Award by the Society for the Preservation of the Great American Songbook and a 2025 nominee for the prestigious "Academie du Jazz" awards. The trumpeter, vocalist, and songwriter has been called the “shining hope of hot jazz”(NY Times) and is considered “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation”(WSJ) She has been a featured artist at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz Heritage, Kobe, Monterey, Breda, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals and recently at Carnegie Hall. Her debut LP on Sony Masterworks reached #5 on the Billboard Jazz charts. Her most recent studio album What it Means was recorded in New Orleans during Mardi Gras featuring top local musicians and released on Cellar Live. Her music has been streamed over 20 million times. The daughter of teachers, Bria was introduced to jazz by a spirited public school band program and local festival in her hometown of Chilliwack, British Columbia Canada.  A professional band leader since her teens, she moved to Vancouver and obtained her degree in Trumpet Performance from Capilano University. Since arriving in New York in 2010 she has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages on behalf of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, Jazz House Kids and more. She is a co-producer of the NY Hot Jazz Camp now in its 10th year. Bria is an active member of the Women in Jazz Organization, the International Trumpet Guild, a Bach Conn-Selmer artist, and became a mother in 2020.