Here Are the 2025 Recipients of the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards
The program recognizes gifted young jazz composers, defined as up to the age of 30.
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The ASCAP Foundation has announced the recipients of the 2025 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. Established in 2002, the program recognizes gifted young jazz composers, defined as up to the age of 30. It carries the name of music legend and ASCAP member Herb Alpert in recognition of The Herb Alpert Foundation’s multi-year financial commitment to the program. The recipients, who receive cash awards, are selected through a juried national competition.
“With The Herb Alpert Foundation’s unwavering support, the Young Jazz Composer Awards continue to elevate emerging voices of jazz, one of our most vital art forms,” ASCAP Foundation president Paul Williams said in a statement. “These gifted young composers are the future of the genre, and we are honored to be a part of their musical journey.”
“The ASCAP Foundation has been dedicated to nurturing the musical talent of tomorrow for 50 years,” added ASCAP Foundation executive director Nicole George-Middleton. “We are incredibly grateful for the generous support of The Herb Alpert Foundation that allows us to do what we do best — uplift the next generation of music creators.”
The 2025 ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award recipients are listed below with their age, current residence and place of origin:
Jonah Barnett, 25 of Washington, D.C. (Alexandria, Va.); Eli Feingold, 27 of Brooklyn, N.Y. (Marlboro, N.J.); Michael Hilgendorf, 26 of New York (Chesterfield, Mich.); Benedict Koh, 25 of Boston (Singapore); Aditi Malhotra, 27 of Boston (New Delhi, India); Giovanni Martinez, 20 of New York (Jacksonville, Fla.); Alan Montaño, 20 of Brighton, Mass. (Concord, Calif.); Bakhari S. Nokuri, 19 of Los Angeles (Dayton, Md.); Marc Perez, 24 of Los Angeles; Artur Ponsà of Boston (Barcelona, Spain); Jahari Stampley, 25 of Chicago; Katie Webster, 24 of Brooklyn, N.Y. (Seattle); and Alejandra Williams-Maneri (Alejandra Sofia), 26 of Brooklyn, N.Y. (Barre, Mass.).
The restriction that recipients need to be under age 30 keeps the focus on young talent. Alpert reached his career peak at age 30 in 1965 with the release of Whipped Cream & Other Delights, his first of five No. 1 albums (all recorded with his Tijuana Brass ensemble) on the Billboard 200. Alpert and Jerry Moss had formed A&M Records three years earlier.
Additional funding for the program is provided by The ASCAP Foundation’s Bart Howard Fund. Howard, who died in 2004, is best known as the composer of the jazz standard “Fly Me to the Moon.”
The Herb Alpert Foundation, a non-profit, private foundation established in the early 1980s, makes significant annual contributions to a range of programs in the fields of arts, arts education, and compassion and well-being. Its funding is directed toward projects in which Herb and Lani Alpert and Foundation president Rona Sebastian play an active role. [The Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals.]
Founded in 1975, The ASCAP Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to supporting American music creators and encouraging their development through music education, talent development and humanitarian programs.
