The Kennedy Center Announces Participants of the 22nd Annual Betty Carter's JAZZ AHEAD

The Kennedy Center's international jazz career development program announced the participants of the 22nd annual Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead (BCJA) program. The two-week residency includes training in performance, composing, and career development. Led by Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, Jason Moran, the Jazz Ahead program identifies outstanding, emerging jazz artists and composers in their teens to age 25, and brings them together under the tutelage of experienced artists/instructors who coach and counsel them, polishing their performance, composing, and arranging skills.

A total of 16 talented young musicians from the United States, Sweden, India, Austria, and Canada were selected by a competitive audition process. Joining Moran to lead the residency are six renowned jazz artists: saxophonist Casey Benjamin, drummer Clarence Penn, pianist Peter Martin, trumpeter Marcus Printup, bassist Christopher Thomas, and vocalist/saxophonist Camille Thurman. For the first time in the history of the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program, participants will interact with pre-professional dancers participating in the Kennedy Center Dance Lab (KCDL). During the first week of the program, Artistic Lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab, Hope Boykin, and Jason Moran will hold two collaborative work sessions exploring the improvisational elements in both art forms for the Jazz Ahead and the Kennedy Center Dance Lab students. This year's program will also feature a special discussion for the students between Jason Moran, NYO Jazz director Sean Jones and vocalist and Jazz Ahead alumna, Jazzmeia Horn, followed by this year's participants attending Carnegie Hall's national youth orchestra, NYO Jazz, concert on August 9th in the Terrace Theater. The residency will conclude with two free performances showcasing the young jazz artists' original compositions on August 11th and 12th at 5 p.m. in the Terrace Theater.

Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead 2022 Participants

NAME	INSTRUMENT	HOME
Zach Adleman	Drums	USA
Evan Amoroso	Trombone	USA
Quinton Cain	Drums	USA
Summer Camargo*	Trumpet	USA
Melodie Fort	Vocalist	USA
Joesph Giordano	Trombone	USA
Langston Hughes III	Saxophone	USA
Miles Lennox*	Piano	USA
Aditi Malhotra	Vocalist	India
Nicole McCabe	Saxophone	USA
Ciara Moser	Bass	Austria
Naomi Nakanishi	Piano	USA
Ilya Osachuck	Bass	Canada
Petter Pankinaho	Trumpet	Sweden
Robert Papacica	Guitar	USA
Ben Turner	Guitar	USA

*Past NYO Jazz participants.

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Press Release FOR RELEASE:
August 1, 2022

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
announces the participants of the
22nd Annual
Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead
Aspiring jazz musicians take over the Kennedy Center for a two-week career development intensive

2022 class includes 16 artists from five countries around the world

Young musicians will present free performances in the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater, August 11-12, 2022

(WASHINGTON)-The Kennedy Center's international jazz career development program today announced the participants of the 22nd annual Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead (BCJA) program. The two-week residency includes training in performance, composing, and career development. Led by Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, Jason Moran, the Jazz Ahead program identifies outstanding, emerging jazz artists and composers in their teens to age 25, and brings them together under the tutelage of experienced artists/instructors who coach and counsel them, polishing their performance, composing, and arranging skills.

A total of 16 talented young musicians from the United States, Sweden, India, Austria, and Canada were selected by a competitive audition process. Joining Moran to lead the residency are six renowned jazz artists: saxophonist Casey Benjamin, drummer Clarence Penn, pianist Peter Martin, trumpeter Marcus Printup, bassist Christopher Thomas, and vocalist/saxophonist Camille Thurman. For the first time in the history of the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program, participants will interact with pre-professional dancers participating in the Kennedy Center Dance Lab (KCDL). During the first week of the program, Artistic Lead for the Kennedy Center Dance Lab, Hope Boykin, and Jason Moran will hold two collaborative work sessions exploring the improvisational elements in both art forms for the Jazz Ahead and the Kennedy Center Dance Lab students. This year's program will also feature a special discussion for the students between Jason Moran, NYO Jazz director Sean Jones and vocalist and Jazz Ahead alumna, Jazzmeia Horn, followed by this year's participants attending Carnegie Hall's national youth orchestra, NYO Jazz, concert on August 9th in the Terrace Theater. The residency will conclude with two free performances showcasing the young jazz artists' original compositions on August 11th and 12th at 5 p.m. in the Terrace Theater.

Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead 2022 Participants

NAME
INSTRUMENT
HOME
Zach Adleman
Drums
USA
Evan Amoroso
Trombone
USA
Quinton Cain
Drums
USA
Summer Camargo*
Trumpet
USA
Melodie Fort
Vocalist
USA
Joesph Giordano
Trombone
USA
Langston Hughes III
Saxophone
USA
Miles Lennox*
Piano
USA
Aditi Malhotra
Vocalist
India
Nicole McCabe
Saxophone
USA
Ciara Moser
Bass
Austria
Naomi Nakanishi
Piano
USA
Ilya Osachuck
Bass
Canada
Petter Pankinaho
Trumpet
Sweden
Robert Papacica
Guitar
USA
Ben Turner
Guitar
USA
*Past NYO Jazz participants.

About Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead

Betty Carter founded Jazz Ahead as a vehicle to foster the musical talents of future generations of jazz artists. She originally developed the program in 1993 at 651, an arts center in Brooklyn. In 1997, the late Dr. Billy Taylor (Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, 1994-2010) invited Carter to bring Jazz Ahead to Washington, D.C. The inaugural class of Kennedy Center Jazz Ahead students presented an unforgettable concert with Carter herself joining them on the Kennedy Center Concert Hall stage. Jason Moran, then a young pianist from Houston, was selected by Carter to be a student in this first year at the Kennedy Center. Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead had a new home and Carter was filled with hope for the future of the program. After Carter's untimely death in September 1998, the Carter family graciously granted the Kennedy Center the opportunity to continue her legacy by making the program an annual Kennedy Center event.

Distinguished alumni from Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead include pianists Jason Moran, Matthew Whitaker, and Aaron Parks; guitarist Lage Lund; trombonist Andre Hayward; bassist Ameen Saleem; violinist Miri Ben-Ari; vocalists Charenee Wade and Jazzmeia Horn; saxophonists Marcus Strickland, Grace Kelly, and Jon Irabagon, and drummer Jamison Ross, among others.

About Jazz at the Kennedy Center

Kennedy Center Jazz, under the leadership of Artistic Director Jason Moran, presents legendary artists who have helped shape the art form, artists who are emerging on the jazz scene, and innovative multidisciplinary projects throughout the year. Annual Kennedy Center jazz events include the professional development residency program for young artists, Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead; NPR's A Jazz Piano Christmas, the Kennedy Center holiday tradition shared by millions around the country via broadcast on NPR; and the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival, created in 1996 by the late Dr. Billy Taylor (Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz, 1994-2010).

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