Alumnus Places Third in Prestigious International Jazz Competition

Vuyolwethu Sotashe, a 2015 graduate with a master’s degree in music, placed third in the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Vocals Competition. Drummer Carl Allen, a 1983 graduate of the University’s jazz program, was among the trio that accompanied Sotashe during his semifinal performance.

Widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious jazz competition, the Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition features a different musical instrument each year. Numerous participants have forged successful careers as performing and recording artists and music educators. Alumnus Justin Kauflin ’08 was a 2011 semifinalist, an experience chronicled in the 2014 award-winning documentary Keep on Keepin’ On about his relationship with the late jazz trumpeter Clark Terry,

Sotashe, from South Africa, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue his master’s degree at William Paterson. He has won numerous awards, including first prize at the 2014 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Vocal Competition and second prize and the Audience prize at the 2015 Shure Montreux Jazz Voice Competition. He has performed at jazz festivals in Italy, Sweden, and South Africa, and is currently performing around New York City with the drummer Winard Harper.

Also among the semifinalists was singer and violinist Lucy Yeghiazaryan ’14. A magna cum laude graduate of the University with a bachelor’s degree in history, she is a member of the music ensemble Soundsketch and of the YY Sisters, a trio comprised of her sister Tatev Yeghiazaryan ‘09 and Kate Victor ’12 that performs traditional Armenian music.