With her serene, spirited tone, emerging jazz vocalist Lucy Wijnands is a dedicated enthusiast of jazz from its beginnings to today. Now a recent graduate and the Ella Fitzgerald scholar at the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase, Wijnands has been named the 1st place winner of the 4th annual 2021 Ella Fitzgerald Vocal Competition. Wijnands received the President’s Award for Achievement in 2020, allowing her to travel to Tokyo, Japan and perform as SUNY Purchase’s cultural ambassador. Wijnands has been described as “Outstanding Jazz Vocalist” in Downbeat Magazine and has received high praise from NPR, Jersey Jazz Magazine, KC Jazz Ambassador’s Magazine, KCUR, Jazz Times, and more. Wijnands has sung in many clubs around NYC, including Birdland Jazz Club and Theater, Mezzrow Jazz Club, Smalls Jazz Club, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room, the Django, and many more. Wijnands draws inspiration from her voice teacher, Anne Phillips.



Wijnands believes singing is her calling, and storytelling is her passion. Born and raised in Kansas City, MO, she got her start performing in many jazz clubs in KC with her father, master of stride piano, Bram Wijnands. Wijnands savored the moments she spent time in the Missouri countryside, as it allowed her to curiously try and capture these moments of rawness and beauty in her music. Wijnands aspires to create similar moments of wonderment for others by combining her visual art with her singing.

To Wijnands, the uncontrolled, exuberant and intuitive nature of her painting has unlocked liberating impulses in her singing. Together, Wijnands believes this combustible mix can bring to life the range of human impulses that exist in all of us.