ROBERTA BRENZA

Roberta Brenza has long been a supporter of the arts, always a jazz fan who loved to sing, growing up in a household filled with the songs of Ella Fitzgerald and other vocalists from her father’s record collection. While raising her two sons, Roberta spent two decades involved in volunteer work, including membership on nonprofit performing arts boards in Boulder, Colorado. All the while, she quietly nurtured a secret, long-held dream to make jazz a leading focus in her life. One of her first forays was organizing a private youth jazz combo for her then middle-school-aged sons. This inspired Roberta to enroll in a jazz combo class of her own and later, private lessons and workshops. Roberta’s naturally adept ear, rich tone, and visceral feel for swing soon led to local gigs as well as private lessons with her first jazz mentor, Boulder-based pianist Art Lande. Additional training and inspiration came from read more...