Winner of 4th Annual Sarah Vaughan Vocal Competition Revealed

Arianna Neikrug is the winner of the 4th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition, co-produced by NJPAC and WBGO and held on Sunday, November 15 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. The grand winner receives an exclusive recording contact with Concord Records, a $5,000 cash prize and, for the first time, a slot at the 2016 Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, sponsored by TD Bank.

The second place winner of the competition was Angela Hagenbach from Kansas City, who was awarded a $1,500 cash prize, and the third place winner was Nicole Zuraitis from Brooklyn, who received a $500 cash award.

"I cannot accurately put into words how grateful, honored, humbled, and downright excited I am to have won," exclaimed Neikrug. "This is just the first step of a long, incredibly fulfilling, beautiful life of music for me."

John Schreiber, President and CEO of New Jersey Performing Arts Center said, "Everyone at the Art Center sends their congratulations to Arianna - an expressive, creative, exciting and swinging new voice in jazz. We look forward to her success in seasons to come."

The Concord arrangement is a three-year commitment by the record label to present an exclusive recording contract offer to the winner of the annual competition. "It's always great to be involved in the process of discovering and nurturing new artists and working together in the development of their careers," said Wexler, COO of the Concord Label Group.

It was also announced yesterday that Jazzmeia Horn, the 2013 winner of the Sarah Vaughan competition and who works as a teaching artist with NJPAC, won first prize in the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition in Los Angeles.

The Sarah Vaughan competition, also known as The SASSY Awards, provides a platform for one outstanding jazz singer to launch a career within the music business. Jazz fans were encouraged to vote for their favorite vocalist on NJPAC's social media platforms, where they were able to listen to an audio track submitted by the five finalists.

Entrants from all around the globe, such as Australia, Italy, Canada and the Czech Republic were represented on the website. A total of 119 were deemed eligible submissions. The competition also drew more than 2 million social media impressions.

Judges for the competition included Grammy Award-winning bassist Christian McBride, WBGO - Jazz 88.3 host Michael Bourne, acclaimed jazz vocalist Vanessa Rubin, Edward Arrendell, founder of The Management Ark, a personal management firm for leading entertainers, and Cyrille Aimée, the first winner of NJPAC's Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition.

The competition itself recalls the humble beginnings of jazz icon Sarah Vaughan who, back in 1942, was a Newark teenager and winner of an amateur singing contest at the legendary Apollo Theater. That memorable night helped launch the career of one of the most successful, influential jazz vocalists in the history of American music.

Arianna Neikrug is a Miami-based jazz/pop/R&B vocalist originally from Los Angeles. In May 2015, she graduated from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in Studio Music/jazz vocal performance and with an Outstanding Senior award from her department. At Frost, she sang lead soprano in the Downbeat award winning ensembles "Extensions" and "JV1" under the direction of Dr. Kate Reid, with whom she studied privately. In March 2015, "Extensions" placed first in the Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, where Arianna received an outstanding soloist award. Only 22 years old, Arianna has already made her mark in the jazz world and has shared the stage with various artists including Al Jarreau, Steve Miller, Alice Cooper, Kenny Burrell, Neil Young, Mindy Abair, James Moody, George Benson, Karrin Allyson, Gretchen Parlato, and Roseanna Vitro. She has also had the privilege of performing at Dazzle Jazz Club in Denver and twice at Catalina Bar and Grill, LA's hottest jazz club.

The Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition is presented as part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival. Co-produced by NJPAC and WBGO Jazz 88.3FM, and sponsored by TD Bank, the fourth annual festival was held November 4 through 15 at NJPAC and other venues around the region.

Inaugurated in 2012, and named in recognition of the jazz saxophone virtuoso from Newark, NJPAC's annual celebration of "America's classical music" is a spree of more than two dozen concerts and related activities - over half of which are free to the community. Guided by GRAMMY Award-winning bassist Christian McBride, NJPAC's Jazz Advisor, Moodyfest past and current artists include The Manhattan Transfer, David Sanborn, Tony Bennett, Wynton Marsalis, Al Jarreau, Dianne Reeves, Sérgio Mendes, Bill Charlap, Esperanza Spalding, Fantasia, Chris Botti, Pat Metheny, and the Keith Jarrett/Gary Peacock/Jack DeJohnette trio, among many others.

The TD James Moody Jazz Festival is intrinsic to Newark, a city renowned as the home and creative inspiration for jazz geniuses including Sarah Vaughan and pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, and institutions such as Savoy Records, the Rutgers-Newark Institute of Jazz Studies and WBGO Jazz 88.3FM. The festival's unique events are the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition; One on One with Christian McBride, a concert-and-conversation series featuring jazz's top talents; a free Day of Swing family program at NJPAC's Center for Arts Education; Dorthaan's Place Sunday jazz brunches at the Arts Center's NICO Kitchen + Bar; and a schedule of concerts and special attractions held off-campus throughout Newark.

The festival's title sponsor is TD Bank and the presenting sponsor is The Prudential Foundation. It is supported in part by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.

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