(MADISON, NJ) -- All six New Jersey Jazz Society 2025 Scholarship Winners will perform live on Sunday, November 2, 2025 in a Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison Community Arts Center. They will be joined by five veteran jazz professionals: tenor saxophonist/flutist Don Braden, trombonist Mariel Bildsten, drummer Alvester Garnett, pianist Caili O'Doherty, and bassist Mary Ann McSweeney. Braden and Bildsten are NJJS Advisors and judges in the scholarship competition.
The Scholarship recipients are: Tenor saxophonist Joseph Foglia, Raleigh, NC, William Paterson University Jazz Studies, $1,000 prize for Instrumental Performance. Vocalist Kyra Cioffi, Rutherford, NJ, William Paterson University Jazz Studies, $1,000 prize for Vocal Performance. Multi-instrumentalist Matt Cline, Edmonton, Canada/Shanghai, China, Princeton University Program in Musical Performance, $1,000 Prize for Composition. Alto saxophonist Nate Tota, Clinton, NJ, William Paterson University Jazz Studies, $500 prize for Instrumental Performance. Vocalist Sophia Varughese, Delray Beach, FL, Princeton University Program in Musical Performance, $500 prize for Vocal Performance. Alto saxophonist Aiden Woods, Warwick, NY, William Paterson University Jazz Studies, $500 prize for Composition.
Foglia has won an NJJS Scholarship for the third time. In 2023, he won the $500 prize for Instrumental Performance, and last year he received a first-place scholarship for Composition. He graduated from William Paterson this year and is taking a year away from school "to focus on work/practice" before applying to grad school.
Cioffi, who entered her senior year at WPU this fall, considers Betty Carter as her "chief musical influence. Her ability to carve spaces for vocalists in largely instrumentally-dominant spaces through the mastery of her instrument and of jazz languages has inspired me. A more contemporary vocalist who inspires me is Veronica Swift. I find her elasticity when navigating both the songbook and bebop canons mesmerizing."
Cline is in his junior year at Princeton where he is a Public and International Affairs major and a Music minor. A multi-instrumentalist (trumpet, bass, and drums), Cline attended Shanghai American School from fifth through 12th grade. His band teacher, Christy Wanamaker "introduced me to jazz in middle school, and, later, my trumpet teacher, Jeremy Sinclair, a Berklee and University of North Texas grad, really elevated my trumpet chops and provided me with composition advice and gig opportunities." During Cline's freshman year at Princeton, he received "amazing instruction in big band composition from Darcy James Argue, without which I wouldn't have been able to compose at the level I do now."
Tota is in his final year at William Paterson. "Jazz," he said "is my passion, and the music gives me the most artistic fulfillment." In high school, he attended a summer jazz camp at Moravian University in Bethlehem, PA. "It was the first formal jazz education I had," he said, "and it gave me a solid foundation to build on." His biggest influence on alto saxophone is Cannonball Adderley.
Growing up, Varughese played classical French horn and jazz trumpet. She didn't begin singing until her sophomore year at Princeton. A senior, she is an Astrophysics major and Vocal Jazz Performance minor, but she plans to attend graduate school to pursue a Masters in Music for Jazz Voice. Her current voice teacher at Princeton, Michelle Lordi, "pushed me beyond what I thought was possible for myself and really made me feel like my dreams are in reach."
During his junior year at Warwick Valley High School, Woods learned about the William Paterson Summer Jazz Workshop. "Prior to this," he said, "I had little experience playing jazz music. I participated in my high school's jazz band and various area jazz bands, but it hadn't quite clicked for me yet. However, when I arrived at WPU, my perspective on the music completely changed. For the first time, I was surrounded by some of the greatest active jazz educators in the world, and I loved it."
The NJJS Juried Scholarship Competition was initiated in 2022, with $1,000 and $500 scholarships awarded for Instrumental Performance and Composition. This year, a Vocal Performance category was added, thanks to the support of NJJS Board members Mike Katz and Jackie Wetcher. The competition is also generously supported by Nan Hughes Poole and Board member Cynthia Feketie.
The competition was open to all New Jersey college students currently enrolled in a college undergraduate music program and to New Jersey residents currently enrolled in an out-of-state college undergraduate program. For the latter, proof of residency was required.
Along with the cash awards, winners receive guidance, mentorship, the opportunity to perform with an industry professional, and coverage in Jersey Jazz Magazine. Judges, in addition to Braden and Bildsten were: Ted Chubb, trumpeter and educator; and Jason Olaine, Vice President of Programming at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3:00pm. Admission is $15 for NJJS members and $20 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. Tickets are available for purchase online. There will be light refreshments for purchase. The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, New Jersey.
Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts.
