{{Short description|Canadian jazz musician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Bria Skonberg | image = Bria Skonberg 2012.jpg |caption=Skonberg in 2012 | birth_name = | birth_date ={{bya|1983}} | birth_place = Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician | instrument = Trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals | years_active = | label = Random Act, Sony Masterworks | website = {{URL|briaskonberg.com}} }}
'''Bria Skonberg''' (born 1983) is a Canadian jazz trumpeter and vocalist.
==Early life== Skonberg was born in Chilliwack, British Columbia in 1983;<ref name="Collar">{{cite web | url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bria-skonberg-mn0002933630#biography | title=Bria Skonberg Biography |last=Collar |first=Matt | website=AllMusic |date=n.d. |access-date=February 2, 2024}}</ref> her great-grandparents on her father's side came from Sweden. She took piano lessons in elementary school, switching to trumpet in her early teens.<ref name="artsmania">{{cite web|last1=Malhotra|first1=Anita|title=Interview With Bria Skonberg|url=https://artsmania.ca/2015/06/15/interview-with-bria-skonberg/|website=Artsmania|access-date=June 11, 2017|date=June 16, 2015}}</ref> During High School and college she appeared at numerous jazz festivals with The 51st Eight.<ref name="syncopatedtimes.com">The Education of Bria Skonberg https://syncopatedtimes.com/the-51st-eight-a-northern-light-the-education-of-bria-skonberg/</ref> She also led the all-female Mighty Aphrodite Jazz Band.<ref name="syncopatedtimes.com"/> In 2006, she graduated from Capilano University in Vancouver with a degree in jazz trumpet. She studied with Warren Vaché.<ref name="Bernstein" />
==Career== Skonberg was the leader of Bria's Hot Five, taking inspiration from Louis Armstrong's Hot Five. She credits Louis Armstrong as an early inspiration.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} She also led The Big Bang Jazz Band. She also performed with Canadian jazz veteran Dal Richards and his Orchestra in concert and on recordings.<ref name="Bernstein">{{cite news|last1=Bernstein|first1=Adam|title=Bria Skonberg: A young jazz star on the rise|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/bria-skonberg-a-young-jazz-star-on-the-rise/2013/04/11/83b542dc-926d-11e2-bdea-e32ad90da239_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 4, 2016|date=April 11, 2013}}</ref>
Skonberg has appeared as a band leader and guest artist at jazz festivals in North America, Europe, China and Japan. She moved to New York City in 2010.<ref name=artsmania/> She was a co-founder of the New York Hot Jazz Festival.<ref name="Lyon">{{cite web|last1=Lyon|first1=Christine|title=Bria Skonberg brings her music home|url=http://www.vancourier.com/entertainment/music/bria-skonberg-brings-her-music-home-1.1979860|website=Vancouver Courier|access-date=June 11, 2017|date=June 25, 2015}}</ref>
Skonberg has performed with Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, and Wycliffe Gordon.<ref name="Collar" />
In 2017, Skonberg won the Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, for her crowd-funded album ''Bria''.<ref name="gord">{{cite web|last1=Saxberg|first1=Lynn|last2=Hum|first2=Peter|title=Gord Downie wins three Junos at music awards gala|url=https://lfpress.com/2017/04/01/gord-downie-wins-three-junos-at-music-awards-gala-dinner-saturday-night|website=The London Free Press|access-date=June 15, 2017|language=en-CA|date=April 1, 2017}}</ref><ref name="juno">{{cite web|title=Vocal Jazz Album of the Year |url=https://junoawards.ca/nomination/vocal-jazz-album-of-the-year-bria-skonberg/|website=JUNO Awards|access-date=January 10, 2019}}</ref>
Skonberg is also a mentor and teaching artist passing on the jazz tradition, working with institutions such as [https://www.louisarmstronghouse.org/ The Louis Armstrong House Museum's] education programs.
In addition to the trumpet, Skonberg also plays the flugelhorn.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-04-15 |title=Bria Skonberg: Singer-trumpeter brings 'Brass and Belles' to Cafe Carlyle |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2013/04/15/bria-skonberg-singer-trumpeter-brings-brass-and-belles-to-cafe-carlyle/ |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=New York Daily News |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Awards and honors== * Jazz Award of Merit, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2006 * Kobe Jazz Street Award, Breda Jazz Festival, 2007 * Outstanding Jazz Artist, New York Bistro Award * Nomination, Artist of the Year, Jazz Journalists Association, 2013<ref name="Bernstein" /> * Swing! Award, Jazz at Lincoln Center, 2015<ref name=artsmania/> * Winner, Juno Award Jazz Vocal Album, 2017<ref name="juno"/>
==Discography== thumb|upright=0.85|Skonberg performing in 2021 * ''Fresh'' (Lighter Than Air, 2009) * ''So Is the Day'' (Random Act, 2012) * ''Into Your Own'' (Random Act, 2014) * ''Bria'' (Sony Masterworks, 2016) * ''With a Twist'' (Sony, 2017) * ''Nothing Never Happens'' (self-released, 2019) * ''Brass'' (Cellar Music Group, 2026)
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.briaskonberg.com/ Official website] * {{allmusic}} * {{Discogs artist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skonberg, Bria}} Category:Living people Category:Canadian jazz trumpeters Category:Canadian jazz composers Category:Canadian women jazz singers Category:Canadian jazz singers Category:Musicians from British Columbia Category:People from Chilliwack Category:Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year winners Category:21st-century Canadian trumpeters Category:21st-century Canadian women singers Category:1983 births Category:Canadian people of Swedish descent Category:Women trumpeters Category:Women jazz trumpeters Category:Canadian women jazz musicians Category:Canadian women composers Category:Okeh Records artists Category:21st-century jazz composers