Mon Apr 20
Aanya Sengupta brings an all-star lineup of DC/DMV musicians José Andre Montaño, Will 'Mobetta' Ledbetter and Kofi Shepsu to her Blues Alley leader debut. In celebration of Ella Fitzgerald's 109th birth anniversary, the evening will be a party celebrating seminal recordings by Fitzgerald and featuring arrangements by Sengupta, the first runner-up in the 2025 Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition. This is not one to miss.
Aanya Sengupta is a jazz vocalist and music educator from New Delhi, India, currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School. Praised for her musical sensitivity, devotion to the jazz tradition, and compelling storytelling, she has already been featured at major venues including Carnegie Hall, Dizzy’s Club, the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Bop Stop, Green Room 42, and Blues Alley. Aanya has received multiple DownBeat Student Music Awards for performance as an undergraduate jazz vocalist and was awarded Second Place at the 2025 Ella Fitzgerald International Jazz Vocal Competition. She was also selected as a mentee in the Women in Jazz Organization’s Mentors Program. Aanya received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a full-tuition scholarship recipient, studying privately with esteemed musicians La Tanya Hall, Dr. Eddie Henderson, NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz, and Gerald Cannon. Upon graduating from Oberlin in 2025, she received the Louis and Marguerite Bloomberg Greenwood Prize, the Pi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship, and the Wendell and Bettye Logan Prize in Jazz Studies. At Juilliard, Aanya studies privately with Charenée Wade, with mentorship from Carla Cook, Gerald Cannon, and Kenny Washington. Aanya has taught music at the JAZZ HOUSE KiDS and Jazz Power Initiative programs for jazz education in the NYC/NJ area, designing a music fundamentals curriculum for the latter, and has also instructed privately at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.