- Flute
- Session B
- Breckenridge Associates Real Estate Chair
Tessa Vermeulen of Elmhurst, Illinois, is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University with Alberto Almarza. She is an award winner in the Collegiate Flute Society Competitions of Wisconsin, South Carolina, Florida, and Pennsylvania. She has also performed as a concerto soloist with Chicago’s Lakeview Orchestra, Chicago’s Oistrakh Orchestra, and the Symphony of Oak Park River Forest. In 2019, Tessa attended the National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute.
What are you most looking forward to this summer with the NRO?
I am most excited to be challenged by the musicianship of my soon-to-be peers. Meeting new people in a similar stage in life with the same passion for music is an incredibly enriching experience that results in a beautiful end product. This is not only great career training, but the perfect way to make new connections. I know that each moment of playing will be special and that I will walk away from it having learned so much from so many different perspectives.
What is something interesting that people may not know about you?
I have immediate family in the Netherlands and Germany and I’m fortunate enough to get to visit them every other summer or so. Along with these family visits, I also get to enjoy the beauty and history of these countries, which has always been a treasured experience of mine. The fishing and boating in the Netherlands is also a favorite activity. In terms of non-human family, I have a cat who is 23 years old (older than myself)! I’m convinced that she is immortal.