@AltoClefCounts that’s fantastic! My son was a rising senior when he went, and there were plenty of musicians your son’s age.
Can I ask what instrument/program he is?
@AltoClefCounts also, you are welcome to DM me if you wish and I can give you exhausting detail, LOL.
In a nutshell, my son had a super social summer to the point of getting the “Brevard Blues” upon returning home. (It’s a thing, and a testament to the fun.) They do a great job mixing people up for housing, and my son has run into three people on his audition travels this year that were in his cabin, plus one college player from his studio. They have been really happy to see each other.
Parents and friends are welcome at the concerts, and we made three trips there from the upper Midwest (on for drop off, one for pickup, and one in between for a concert we really wanted to see).
Please message me with any questions I left unanswered or things you want to know more about. It took some convincing for us to let our son do it, but I’m so glad we let him go. It was huge for his development musically and personally. 
Thanks for your reply!! he’s a violinist and it’s the orchestra institute that he got accepted to. Sending you a DM now!!
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When my son went at that age, he made good friends and had a great experience. Fairly structured rules but they don’t lock the kids in practice rooms like at some others.
hi! what instrument did your son play? Did they have a lot of free time in between? I read on another thread that BUTi is much less structrued.
He’s a cellist. He had enough time to play ping pong, go down to the lake, go into town on occasion. They separate the college kids, and have some strictish behavioral rules, but I think it makes for a good balance of giving the musicians independence while keeping the environment safe and positive. He’s still in touch with some of the friends he made there, has on occasion bumped into another music student who he knew in passing from Brevard, and went up levels with the superb studio teacher.
I wouldn’t say they had a lot of free time, but they had enough. If his focus were orchestra, he would have gone back, but his heart is in chamber music. All the programs he’s gone to since have been chamber-music-based.
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Anyone been to Emerald Coast? If so, please share you or your musician’s experience.
anyone know anything about Blackburn and National Repertory Orchestra?
My son was invited to NRO last summer but declined due to conflicts with several jobs he did not want to miss. He had had a couple of friends attend and they really liked it. It is very busy and covers a lot of rep, so the only downside is that his friends felt they had to compromise individual practice time.
I was trying to talk my son into attending because I wanted to go visit. The setting is stunning of course.
My child was just accepted to Brevard for orchestra. I have heard that the program itself is excellent. I was just wondering if the dorms and dining hall and social situation are reasonably comfortable.
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Congratulations to your musician!
You are welcome to DM me, but in a nutshell, yes on all three fronts. My son loved his experience last summer and did not want to come home.
Dorms are cabins that hold maybe 14-20 total in rooms of 3-4 (my son’s was about 20 guys including two RAs). They have air conditioning and most have some sort of gathering space indoors as well as a covered porch or patio for shelter from afternoon showers. (There are lots of summer showers, but they don’t last that long.) Each person has a bunk, plus a full height cubby with their own shelves and a hanging rod for concert clothes. Musicians are mixed so different types are staying together and it facilitates connections that wouldn’t otherwise happen.
The dining hall is open air with screens, and kids can come and go when they need to. Some meals were better than others, but there were takeaway ice cream treats and things and my son who needs to eat a lot did fine. He learned to eat okra! They did occasionally have pizza delivered, but that was more of a social thing when they did.
The high schoolers have their own lounge that is a freestanding building where they can play games, watch movies, and hang out. My son could always find people there, and they did fun things like throw an impromptu birthday party for one of their new friends. They also enjoyed meeting up at the little lake for swimming or going into town on the weekends for random excursions to buy snacks.
Does anyone have experience with being a brass alternate for NSO SMI? Any likelihood of getting in? The NSO dates conflict with another chamber festival that needs a commitment by the 19th with a non refundable deposit , NSO says he will know by April 1 about the alternate position. Hate to lose the money if he happens to get into NSO late. Just curious if anyone has run into this before.
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They’re air conditioned- is that what you mean? Food was fine, nothing notable. Socially my homeschooled highschooler was very happy there
My daughter is a graduating HS senior violist considering Interlochen for summer study, with a good scholarship so relatively little money out of pocket. But since she’ll be at the top of the age range for students, I wonder how her experience will be. Musically, she’s a young violist with only 2 years under her belt, but good enough to get admitted to several colleges as a viola performance major. Just looking for insights about Interlochen in these later teen years.
At 17/18 she will definitely be one of the older students at Interlochen. My son went for the summer before his junior year which was the more typical age.
There are kids from all backgrounds so I would think she would find peers. And of course she will have plenty of structured music activities. You can pull up some videos online to see the level for orchestra and chamber groups to make sure she would feel adequately challenged.
My son loved his summer there. One nice aspect was the incorporation of dance, theater and art. So there were events to attend from the different disciplines.
He did say that the counselors were a little heavy on rules and in his mind treating the students as if they were younger than their ages. But I think that was only for the first few days as everyone settled in.
If you have a great scholarship so it is not costing too much right before college and she wants to go, I would recommend.
Feel free to message me if you have other questions.
Does anyone have experience with the Bowdoin waitlist? Has anyone been offered a spot off the waitlist this year (violin) or know when Bowdoin typically begins offering spots off the waitlist?
For any trombones researching for next summer, here is a plug for the quality of Brevard, and in particular, its summer-long orchestral institute.
My son attended last summer as a rising HS senior. For his college auditions this year, he was invited to audition at Curtis. Even being invited was a win, but he also made the callback round, as did another trombonist who was at Brevard with him. Brevard’s summer trombone studio comprised 1/3 of the callback finalists. That reflects incredibly well on their program.
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Anyone attend Zodiac in France? I’m a bit worried given the state of the world- wondering what domestic options might still be open for US-based college musicians for June or early July…