Brandon University (BU) professor Marika Galea is winning over jazz critics.
Galea, an Assistant Professor in the School of Music, recently made it into the 2025 Critics Poll in influential jazz publication DownBeat Magazine in the category of Rising Star Electric Bassist of the Year.
“To make it into the poll of such a prestigious and long-running American music magazine is an accomplishment,” Galea said.
DownBeat, which was launched in 1934, named Peruvian bassist Jorge Roeder as the category winner in a vote of 251 critics.
Galea has been busy this year, with performances of her original compositions in Mexico, Spain and several Canadian cities, including stops in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and at the Kenny Wheeler Jazz Composer Symposium at the University of Saskatchewan. She was also invited to the Jazz Education Network conference in Atlanta in January to present one of her current research projects, adjudicate student groups and to host a session by vibraphonist and app developer Stefon Harris.
Galea has new original music on the horizon. She will be releasing an EP in 2026 as a follow-up to her 2020 full-length release, Nuance.
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