The Brooklyn Conservatory of Music (BKCM) has named violinist Kersten Stevens and vocalist/flutist Alexandria DeWalt as recipients of its 2025–26 Jazz Leaders Fellowship.
Their achievement was celebrated with a garden reception on July 10, attended by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. The two musicians will receive a $12,500 unrestricted award for their musical endeavors, in addition to free rehearsal space, and performance and curatorial opportunities.
Kersten Stevens, known as the Queen of the Violin, is a genre-defying artist and composer who’s turned every stage into a sanctuary with her luminous performances. A six-time winner of Amateur Night and Showtime at The Apollo, Stevens has shared the stage with Christian McBride, Faith Evans, Regina Carter, Kim Burrell, and Keyon Harrold. Her performances have moved icons like President Obama, Dionne Warwick, Babyface, Usher and Denzel Washington.
Stevens’ journey began at age three, when she first picked up the violin. By age twelve, she had discovered jazz and unlocked a lifelong passion for improvisation and genre-bending expression. Her early talent earned top honors from the NAACP ACT-SO Award and the Hal Jackson’s Talented Teen competition. She graduated from Yale with dual degrees in Music and African American Studies, she went on to study under legendary jazz violinist John Blake Jr., honing a sound that is technically masterful, spiritually rooted, and creatively boundless.
Her latest album, QUEEN RISING– co-produced with 9x GRAMMY-winner Christian McBride– debuted in the JazzWeek Top 40. The project features McBride on all tracks and showcases reimagined classics like Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Fantasy” and Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free,” alongside bold originals like “You’ve Been Crowned” and “Beginnings and Endings.”
Stevens has been featured in Vogue, WBGO Jazz 88.3FM, All About Jazz, and The Black Gospel Blog. She is a voting member of The Recording Academy, and her performances whether in concert halls or sacred spaces, invite audiences not just to hear, but to feel.
Alexandria Dewalt is a vocalist, flutist, and composer who seeks to connect her gospel roots with Americana, classical, and jazz traditions. Born and raised in Houston, TX, she carries the traditions and values of storytelling, which her grandmother instilled in her. Her voice simultaneously acknowledges her roots and navigates the past as she pushes musical boundaries.
DeWalt received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami where she studied under vocalist Dr. Kate Reid. DeWalt has been awarded the Jazz Education Network Women in Jazz Award and was recognized as the Most Outstanding Senior of her class for her work inside and outside of the school. She continued on to receive a master’s degree at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, under the instruction of pianist and composer, Danilo Perez.
Since moving to New York, she’s performed at venues such as Dizzy’s, Minton’s Playhouse and Close Up. She also has performed at Brown University, Groton Hill Music Center, and appeared with Sunday Jazz at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2024. Later that year, she was accepted into Mutual Mentorship for Musicians’ 7th Cohort led by artists, Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa. Alexandria maintains her Houston connections through playing with artists such as Jalen Baker, Paul Cornish, and Adam DeWalk. Dewalt is currently an assistant professor in the Ensemble and Voice departments at Berklee College of Music and a teaching artist with Carnegie Hall’s Future Music Project.
In its fifth year, the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music’s Jazz Leaders Fellowship provides resources to Black women and Black non-binary musicians to further develop their craft and pursue projects that advance their careers. Since 2021, two musicians get selected annually to receive the awards. With Dewalt and Stevens joining, ten musicians have now received Fellowships since its launch. The most recent recipients were Goussy Célestin and Key Hutchinson– the 2024-25 Fellows.
Fellowship winners are responsible for creating one public performance featuring the Fellow as a leader in an ensemble, and for collaborating with BKCM’s Community Music School Jazz Program Director to establish a framework for engaging students with the Fellow’s artistry.
Melanie Charles, 2023-24 fellow, curated BKCM’s Midsummer Nights series. Her collective, Make Jazz Trill Again, focuses on taking jazz from the museum to the streets and her curation of the event focuses on representing the full breadth and diversity of contemporary jazz in NYC, infusing elements of R&B, hip-hop, Latin, African and experimental musical traditions across four concerts that has something for music lovers of all ages and backgrounds.
The Jazz Leaders Fellowship program was started by former Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Board member Daniel DiPietro and developed by the Jazz Leaders Fellowship Committee, led by musician and educator Fay Victor. The fellowship is made possible by the generous support of DiPietro and his wife Alexis and is supported in part by a grant from The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation, Inc.
BKCM aims to transform lives and build community through expressive, educational, and therapeutic powers of music. Their Park Slope home offers private music lessons, group classes, ensembles, and music therapy. They bring high-quality music education and music therapy to 7,000 students and clients at more than 80 public schools and community-based organizations across the city’s five boroughs. They strive to be an inclusive place where all people can come together and experience learning, joy, creativity, and healing through music. More information can be found at the BKCM website.
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