Surrey’s ‘Rising Star’ Jazz Musician to Swing at Fort Langley Fest This Summer

When the Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival returns for two full days of live music in July, a Surrey-raised trumpet player will be featured as the event’s inaugural Rising Star award winner.

Julian Borkowski, a second-year music student at Capilano University, earns a $1,000 scholarship and will perform with his band at the festival on Sunday, July 28, from 2 to 3 p.m.

For its second year of music, festival organizers established the award “to recognize an outstanding jazz student who demonstrates a high level of performance ability and is pursuing a professional career in jazz music.”

Borkowski, who lives in Cloverdale and went to high school at Holy Cross in Fleetwood, said the recognition “is a great opportunity for me to expose myself musically.

“It feels so crazy, a bit surreal, to see my name next to people I have looked up to, stars like Dee Daniels and Miles Black. It’s amazing.”

For 2019, Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival will be held from July 26 to 28, offering free concerts on two outdoor stages with more than 25 bands, along with three nighttime concerts for ticketholders. Featured genres include straight-ahead jazz, R&B, big band, New Orleans, funk and latin jazz.

Read the full article here.

Article originally published in the Surrey Now-Leader