Trumpet performance and music theory double major, Jacob Boca ’15, received an APEX mini grant to attend the Bay View Music Festival, the country’s oldest continuously operating chamber music festival. The festival is held annually during the summer at the Bay View Chautauqua, located just outside Petoskey, Michigan. The admission process is highly competitive and involves sending both an application and audition recording. At this month-long festival, Boca spent the majority of his time rehearsing and performing with a brass quintet and large brass ensemble. The festival provided ample opportunities for performance in weekly recitals and concerts. He particularly enjoyed his final concert, a combined quintet and large brass recital played at Cross in the Woods, a church located in Indian River, MI. At the festival, Jacob also had the opportunity to take classes in professional development.
Boca emphasized that this was a wonderful networking opportunity; the small size of the festival (approximately 50 students) allowed him to make close contact with faculty as well as develop close connections with his fellow students. Boca hopes to attend graduate school to pursue a Master of Music in Performance. He made clear that his professors from the summer are not only helping him by writing letters of recommendation but also by putting him in touch with potential teachers all across the country.