NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — The ASCAP Foundation announced the young songwriter and composer recipients of the 2022 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards.
The awards, which were established in 2002 and named after the legendary jazz trumpeter, are intended to recognize jazz composers in the early stages of their careers, up to the age of 30.
Recipients for 2022 include: Evan Abounassar, age 22 of Los Angeles, CA (Yorba Linda, CA); Ben Beckman, age 21 of New Haven, CT (Los Angeles, CA); Sonya Belaya, age 27 of Brooklyn, NY (Southeastern MI); Max Bessesen, age 27 of New York, NY(Denver, CO); Gabriel Chakarji, age 28 of Brooklyn, NY(Caracas, Venezuela); Jessica Curran, age 28 of Boston, MA ( Sandwich, MA); Kira Daglio Fine, age 25 of Boston, MA; Sebastian de Urquiza, age 29 of New York, NY (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Michael R. Dudley Jr., age 27 of Potsdam, NY (Cincinatti, OH); Joseph Durben, age 18 of Buffalo, MN; Quinn Dymalski, age 23 of Los Angeles, CA (Park City, UT); Conner Eisenmenger, age 29 of Seattle, WA (Louisville, KY); Eliana Fishbeyn, age 25 of New York, NY(Chapel Hill, NC); Brandon Goldberg, age 16 of FL; Vicente Hansen, age 29 of Brooklyn, NY(Santiago, Chile); Ennis Suavengco Harris, age 23 of Los Angeles, CA (Exeter, CA); Daiki Nakajima, age 19 of San Jose, CA (Tokyo, Japan); Yu Nishiyama, age 27 of Hawthorne, NJ (Yokohama, Japan); Robert Perez, age 29 of Los Angeles, CA (Chino Hills, CA); Gary (Kaiji) Wang, age 26 of Miami, FL (Beijing, China); and Griffin Woodard, age 23 of Boston, MA (Bethlehem, PA).
“We are so proud to recognize the 2022 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients and to celebrate 10 years of generous support from The Herb Alpert Foundation,” said ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams. “These emerging voices are taking their music in creative new directions, and we deeply appreciate the Herb Alpert Foundation for helping to nurture the craft of jazz with this enduring partnership.”
Composers receiving Honorable Mention this year are: Claire Dickson, age 25 of Brooklyn, NY (Medford, MA); Michael Echaniz, age 27 of Los Angeles, CA (Oakland, CA); Amanda Ekery, age 27 of New York, NY (El Paso, TX); Chase Elodia, age 27 of Brooklyn, NY (Norwalk, CT); Peyton Nelesen, age 14 of CA; and Malcolm Xiellie, age 14 of CA.
Through a partnership with the Newport Festivals Foundation, one of this year’s Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards recipients will be featured by the Newport Jazz Festival.
The ASCAP composer/judges for the 2022 competition were: Fabian Almazan, Chuck Owen and Camille Thurman.
