Four New York based jazz musicians are getting the chance of a lifetime to work side by side with professional musicians during a yearlong fellowship hosted at San Francisco State University.

Last spring, The Nial Djuliarso Quartet won the first annual International Center for the Arts’ competition called Generations. The competition called for jazz artists around the globe to enter for the grand prize of a yearlong post-graduate fellowship at San Francisco State University. The quartet sealed their fate as the first winners of the competition at the “Battle of the Combos” event, a half hour live performance at San Francisco’s Yoshi’s jazz club last May.

Pianist Nial Djuliarso remained humble when he spoke of the experience. “It was awesome,” said the 27-year-old. “But art is so objective- who is to say one is better than the other? It was a positive experience just to participate.”

The four members of the group, Nial Djuliarso, Bruce Harris, Carmen Intorre, and Yasushi Nakumura, will begin their fellowship at SF State on Sept. 21. They will spend a week as residents of the university, working with mentors and teaching music lessons. The quartet will spend a total of three weeks at SF State in the next year.

The group, whose sound Djuliarso compares to the legendary Horace Silver Band, was also awarded the chance to record their first CD in New York this December.

According to the International Center for the Arts, the competition awards jazz combos with the chance to “receive financial support, explore new creative territory, and pursue career goals under the guidance of distinguished artist mentors.”

The mentors are members of ICA’s Generations band, which consists of legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb, and renowned jazz artists like Eric Alexander, Marcus Belgrave, Ronnie Mathews, and Ray Drummond. This group of award-winning musicians will offer their expertise to the members of the winning quartet.

One of the distinguished mentors is Andrew Speight, an internationally acclaimed alto saxophonist and a jazz teacher at SF State. The native Australian is convinced that the mentors will be able to offer invaluable guidance to these blossoming musicians.

“Mentoring in music is essential to development,” said Speight. “It helps bridge the gap between a music student and becoming a professional musician.”

Speight believes the already talented members of the Nial Djuliarso Quartet will get a chance to grow from this experience. “For a skilled group like this, mentoring gives them a chance to learn from and work with professionals,” said Speight.

Since the Nial Djuliarso Quartet won the competition in May, members of the group have kept themselves busy doing what they do best – playing music.

“We’ve all been busy playing with groups and traveling,” said drummer Carmen Intorre. “But we’re looking forward to coming together again in San Francisco to play.”