Jon Dreams of Aspen Music Festival

Dear Friends, Family, Colleagues and Wonderful Strangers,

Who are you donating to?
My name is Jonathan Hwang, a violin performance major at the Eastman School of Music and I will be graduating with my Bachelors of Music this May.

Growing up in Washington, my family’s financial status was considered low income. This was made worse when my mother passed away unexpectedly. As one would imagine, this put an unbelievable amount of pressure on me to provide not only for myself, but for my family. I have had to financially support myself while attending the Eastman School of Music, which has put me in a considerable amount of debt due to loans. My surmounting debt was so overwhelming that my family had to sell my childhood home in order for me to continue my college education. While I would love to attend the Aspen Music Festival and School, my own finances are not enough to support this prestigious musical endeavor.

The Situation:
This summer, I have been given an amazing opportunity to continue my musical studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School. I have been dreaming of attending this festival ever since I was in high school, and I am so excited to have been accepted to attend! Since being accepted, I have received some financial aid, but financial aid is not enough to cover tuition, room and board. The amount of tuition alone is $3800, and with my final financial aid award of $2600, I am left $1200 short for tuition. I have also found (a surprisingly affordable) off campus housing, this will cost me about $1800 for the full summer. In total, I need to raise $3000.

What is this Festival?
Aspen is an 8 week music festival that has the history of being one of the most prestigious, world-class classical music festival. Not only do the faculty at Aspen come from the top music schools in the country, such as Juilliard, New England Conservatory and Colburn, but the students that attend also come from these conservatories and from conservatories all over the world. To be able to surround myself in this climate would be one of the most beneficial experiences that I could have as a musician. For more information here's a youtube video:

THANK YOU, YOU'RE AMAZING:
I cannot express how grateful I am for your most generous support. And I know that with your help, attending the Aspen Music Festival will not only be possible, but be the most rewarding and exciting summer of my life.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and I hope that you share this with your friends and families and help me pursue my dream of attending this prestigious music festival. 

Most grateful,

Jonathan J. Hwang