William Paterson Duo Awarded NJ Jazz Society Scholarships For Performance

WAYNE, NJ — Two music students at William Paterson University have been awarded for their performance in the New Jersey Jazz Society's Juried Scholarship Competition.

This competition was open to all undergraduate students enrolled in a New Jersey college's music program, as well as New Jersey natives who are enrolled in undergraduate music programs out of state.

Junior jazz performance major Richard LaRouech (trombone) won a $1,000 scholarship, and sophomore jazz studies major Joseph Foglia (saxophone) won a $500 scholarship, said the NJ Jazz Society. They will also receive guidance and mentorship, and the opportunity to perform with an industry professional.

David Demsey, Willam Paterson's Coordinator of Jazz Studies, said that LaRouech is “among the strongest players we have had in our jazz program in a long time.” LaRouech, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., is one of the main featured soloists in the WP Jazz Orchestra.

Foglia, of North Carolina, is a member of William Paterson’s Chamber Jazz Quintet. Demsey said Foglia “has a very strong and rapidly expanding jazz vocabulary.”

The other winning students were:

• $1,000 prize for Composition: Trumpeter Banks Sapnar, Haddonfield, who attends Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance, Jazz Studies.
• $500 prize for Composition: Trumpeter Grace Fox, Marlton, who attends Manhattan School of Music.

The judges for the NJJS Scholarship Competition were trombonist Mariel Bildsten; saxophonist/flutist/educator Don Braden; trumpeter/educator Ted Chubb; and Jason Olaine, Director of Programming and Touring for Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The New Jersey Jazz Society (NJJS) is a non-profit organization of business and professional people, musicians, teachers, students, and listeners working together for the purpose of advancing jazz music. For more information, visit njjs.org.