When Caity Gyorgy was nominated for this year’s JUNO award, she wasn’t expecting to win it for the second time so early in her career.
“It was very surreal. My name was called and honestly, I could not believe it!” she told Humber News.
Her love of jazz started when she was just 17 and she started her career after she graduated from Humber in 2020.
Her first EP, “Now Pronouncing,” was recorded at the Humber Music studio and won the 2022’s JUNO award.
Last week, she got the Vocal Jazz Album of the Year for her debut full length LP “Featuring”, released last year.
She said Humber was crucial to her success in her professional path.
“Humber gave me a sense of community and it was so important for me as a musician,” Gyorgy said.
“I had such a wonderful time when I was there, and I had really wonderful teachers,” she said.
She believes her education at the Music program was essential to achieve her goals and grow as an artist.
“What I loved most about the program was that it was laid out in a way that sets you up for success, if you put in a little bit of effort. In my third year, we had our recitals and a lot of it had to be original material from us.
The EP I recorded in this final year was the one who won the JUNO award in 2022, so it was a really important experience for me,” Gyorgy said.
Some of the songs of her new album, coming out this July, “You’re Alike, You Two”, were also recorded at Humber.
“Most of the people who are in my album I met at Humber,” she said.
“Also, I had a lot of really wonderful teachers at Humber, [Professor] Lisa Martinelli has helped me so much as a singer and musician. I also got some really valuable professional connections from her,” Gyorgy said.
Gyorgy says that she believes Humber music students have everything they need to succeed, as long as they work hard and show interest. She shared some advices:
“Give it your all and be professional. Do take advantage of everything the program has to offer. I always thought about Humber as the free-trial for the real world of being a musician.
“It is a really good way to figure it out how you want to act when you are a professional. Always think: ‘Would you hire yourself?’,” she said.
Her next album “You’re Alike, You Two” will be a collection of Jerome Kern songs performed with pianist Mark Limacher, and is coming up on July 21.