The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts Presents Bria Skonberg

Award-winning trumpeter/vocalist/composer and "one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation (Wall Street Journal)," Bria Skonberg brings her infectious and vibrant jazz and blues-infused style to Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre in Malibu on Saturday, September 17 at 8 p.m., officially opening the 2016-2017 season at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts.

Tickets, priced starting at $17 for the public and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522 or online athttp://arts.pepperdine.edu/. More information about Bria Skonberg available at http://www.briaskonberg.com/

Bria Skonberg is well-known for her adventurous style, rooted in New Orleans jazz and blues, world percussion, soul, and cabaret. In 2013 she earned a Jazz Journalists' Association nomination for "Up and Coming Jazz Artist of The Year" and is included in DownBeat Magazine's Rising Star Critics' Poll for 2013/2014. She has recently been honored with a New York Bistro Award for "Outstanding Jazz Artist" and swept the 2014Hot House Jazz Magazine Awards in all categories nominated: Best Jazz Artist, Best Trumpet, Best Female Vocalist, and Best Group for the Bria Skonberg Quartet.

Noted as a millennial "shaking up the jazz world," according to Vanity Fair, Skonberg is a self-described "small town girl" from Chilliwack, British Columbia. Her first professional gig was as a big band singer at age sixteen doubling on trumpet, and she has since performed as a bandleader and guest artist at over 50 jazz festivals in North America, Europe, China, and Japan. Since moving to New York in 2010 she has headlined at Symphony Space, Birdland, The Iridium, Dizzy's and Cafe Carlyle. She has performed with the likes of Nicholas Payton, Anat Cohen, Scott Robinson, and Bucky Pizzarelli; she has been featured on Wycliffe Gordon's projects, studied with Warren Vache, experimented with electronic effects and presented a gig fusing jazz and stand up comedy.

In 2014 she released her sophomore album on Random Act Records, Into Your Own. Her debut US release So Is The Day, peaked at #7 on the Jazz Radio Charts. Newly signed to Sony Music Masterworks' OKeh Records, just days after her performance at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts, she'll be releasing her debut LP Bria. Wielding a unique blend of modern-day pop sensibility and sizzling musicianship, Skonberg aims for a sense of allure on the new collection. Elite jazz chops, artfully mixed with worldly rhythms and contemporary songwriting, result in a sophisticated pop sound closely resembling that of Michael Bublé, Diana Krall, and Harry Connick Jr.

She currently tours the world, headlining major clubs and festivals as well as programming music education workshops for all ages. To date, Bria has performed at some 100 festivals worldwide. She is the co-founder of the New York Hot Jazz Camp and New York Hot Jazz Festival and an active volunteer at the Louis Armstrong House Museum in Corona, Queens.

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from 664 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine's breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the "black box" Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

THE DETAILS:

WHAT: Bria Skonberg

WHEN: Saturday, September 17, 2016 at 8 p.m.

WHERE: Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA

TICKETS: (310) 506-4522 or arts.pepperdine.edu

PRICES: $17-$35 for the public; $10 for Pepperdine students

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