---

2024 Seattle-Kobe Female Jazz Vocalist Audition
Full Rules & Eligibility

---

The Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association is excited to be bringing back its reciprocal jazz exchange program, which was on hiatus during the pandemic.

Every year since 2000, the winner of the Kobe Jazz Vocalist Queen Contest, held in Kobe’s Shinkaichi neighborhood, the birthplace of Japanese jazz, has visited Seattle to perform. In 2005, the SKSCA launched a reciprocal program: an audition to send two female jazz vocalists from Seattle to perform in Kobe, one adult vocalist and one high school vocalist. 

In May of 2024 and 2023, SKSCA sent SKSCA Board Member and one of our vocalist participants, Leah Natale, to be a judge in the Shinkaichi Music Street Jazz Vocalist Queen Contest in Kobe, and SKSCA was honored to host the 2023 Jazz Vocalist Queen, Ms. Yuka Misaki, in Seattle for several days of fun events.

Now we are relaunching our audition program to send vocalists to Kobe again!

SKSCA’s jazz exchange and incorporating jazz music into other sister city activities has been a beautiful and lively pillar of our sister city relationship for the last twenty-four years. During the sister city 65^th anniversary celebrations in both Seattle and Kobe during the Fall of 2022 we featured jazz vocalists, and also during the Suma Yacht Club-Seattle Yacht Club regatta festivities during April of 2023. We are thrilled and working hard to bring back the audition part of our exchange.

---

The 23rd Kobe Shinkaichi Jazz Vocal Queen Motomi Iono
will perform at the Jazz Vocalist Audition @ The Triple Door!
Buy tickets at this link!

---

DONATING TO SUPPORT THE JAZZ PROGRAM

If you are interested in donating to support our grassroots jazz exchange, please click on our donation link here:

If you are interested in getting involved with the program, please email jazz@sksca.org

---

2023 SEATTLE-KOBE JAZZ EXCHANGE

In 2023, SKSCA coordinated the visit of Kobe Jazz Vocal Queen Yuka Misaki to Seattle, creating multiple opportunities for her to engage with the Seattle community. This included three major performances and a visit to a local elementary school.

---

PAST SEATTLE JAZZ AUDITION WINNERS

---

Jazz Audition Winners

Year	Adult	High School
2019	Josephine Howell	Sage Eisenhour
2018	Alex Baird	Maia Nelson
2017	Nikki Dee	Tiia Freeman
2016	LaVon Hardison	Kristina Buno
2015	Taylor Zickefoose	Alexandra Mountsier
2014	Jennifer Kienzle	Laura Rosok
2013	Leah Natale	Sofia Smith
2012	Nancy Erickson	Taylor Zickefoose
2011	Jacqueline Tabor	Kelila Gottlieb
2010	Kelly Eisenhour	Ariel Pocock
2009	Greta Matassa	Katherine Stuber
2008	Karen Shivers	Siobhan Bruggers
2007	Emily Meyer	Jennifer Hoyt
2006	Gail Pettis	Courtney Fortune
2005	Kelley Johnson	Isabella du Graf