For the past four years, the
New Jersey Performing Arts
Center (NJPAC) has hosted the
Sarah Vaughan International
Vocal Competition in honor of
the great jazz singer born and
raised in Newark, NJ. On Sunday, November 15, the competition’s five finalists competed for
a chance at the grand prize — a
the c ompetition 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. Emma Lee Aboukasm
and Lulu Fall rounded out the
finalists.
“I cannot accurately put into
I cannot accurately put into words
how grateful, honored, humbled, and
downright excited I am to have won
recording contract with Concord
Records, a $5,000 cash prize,
and a slot at the 2016 Festival
International de Jazz de Montréal, sponsored by TD Bank.
Arianna Neikrug, a Miami-based
jazz/pop/R&B vocalist originally
from Los Angeles, was named
the winner.
The second place winner of
NewJerseyStage.com
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.”
Only 22 years old, Neikrug
graduated from the University
of Miami’s Frost School of Music
2015 - ISSUE 11
ARTICLES
97