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Victor Garcia started playing the trumpet when he was 15-years-old, but he didn’t pick up the instrument by choice — at least not his.  

“My dad went to a flea market after I graduated from eighth grade and he got a bunch of instruments,” Garcia said. “I wanted to play the drums, but I misbehaved so I got last pick. I initially got stuck with the trumpet but, luckily, it worked out in the end.”

The trumpet became his passion and on May 16, 2025, Garcia crossed the stage at Credit Union 1 Arena as a candidate for a Master of Arts in Music.

Music roots run deep in Garcia’s family. His parents met in a church choir and they wanted their children to have a foundation in music, even if they wouldn’t use it professionally. Yet, in practice, Garcia unleashed a talent he didn’t know he had.

Today, not only is Garcia a working musician with gigs booked throughout the city and surrounding areas, but he’s also a music instructor with his own home studio (), two records (“” and “”), two Grammy award nominations (for recordings with Angel Melendez and the 911 Mambo Orchestra and Sones de Mexico, which also earned a Latin Grammy nomination), and a desire to teach music full-time at the collegiate level. This Spring, he was a winner of �ڰ�������’s for his performance of Hummel’s “Trumpet Concerto,” one of the more difficult trumpet concertos to play.

“Jazz is my first love, you could say,” Garcia said. “More than anything I consider myself a jazz musician.” He added, “I’ve always been pretty intimidated by classical music, but Dr. Travis Heath pushed me. I felt like he pushed me off a cliff in a way but I was able to find my wings and I’m really excited to continue to study in the musical field known as classical music.”

Heath earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University and was the main reason Garcia chose to complete his master’s degree at �ڰ�������.

“He’s the best teacher I’ve ever had, like hands down,” Garcia said of Heath. “He’s been doing this for a very long time and just has a way about him where you can really understand what he’s getting at, and even if you don’t get it right away, he has kind of a 3D sense of how it all works and he has a way of being able to explain it from different angles until you understand it.”

Heath, who’s been teaching at �ڰ������� for 18 years, has seen students come through the music program with differing levels of ability and experience. He believes that student interactions with faculty make all the difference to helping students and giving them opportunities to shine.

“When you have someone like Victor coming into your program, that kind of defies the typical ‘student’ category,” Heath said. “You have to adjust your parameters as a teacher. In Victor's case, I listened a lot to him and understood his goals and tried to expose him to new material that he would absorb and use to better his ambitions and abilities. It wasn't,  for me, so much about teaching trumpet, but rather introducing new genres, styles and concepts of approach. Victor took these on and proof of his growth was showcased as winner of the Elyse J. Mach Concerto Competition performing the Hummel ‘Trumpet Concerto.’”

Heath noted that before coming to �ڰ�������, Garcia was already an impressive instructor and performer in his own right. Even before he earned his master’s degree, Garcia taught at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston, Loyola University Chicago, Roosevelt University and the University of Illinois Chicago. Now, with an expanded repertoire and the ability to teach and demonstrate it, Heath feels Garcia’s future students will benefit from his tutelage even more.

“Victor is a generational talent,” Heath said. “He is the top-call jazz, commercial and Latin jazz trumpeter in Chicago. We are extremely fortunate that Victor came to pursue his master’s here at NEIU. He could have gone anywhere he wanted and had offers to do so. He has augmented the program here, and the other students and peers learn so much from him and look up to him.”

Garcia’s ultimate goal is to share his love of music with others. In a sort of full-circle moment, he’s been doing that now within his own family. He’s the father of two sons and two step-daughters, and he wants them to partake in “the gift of music.” In 2022, Garcia and his wife, vocalist Jill Katona, were noted in the as part of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival and they are currently working on a recording together.

Born and raised in Chicago, Garcia previously attended �ڰ������� for a semester when he was balancing being a new father and going to school as an undergraduate. He ultimately earned his bachelor’s degree from Concordia University, when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered music venues, leaving him with time to dedicate to his studies he wouldn’t have otherwise had. Yet, �ڰ������� always had a special place in his heart and he said he would love to teach at the University in the future. 

“One of the reasons I was so sure I was going to have a great time here at �ڰ������� is because of the faculty, because of the people here,” Garcia said. “People make a place, right? That’s the only trickle-down that I know works. The kind of energy that the educators bring to an institution, the kind of atmosphere they provide for their students, how open they are, how encouraging, how supportive. I’ve been in some institutions that are more based in fear-based learning and it can really kill a students’ spirit and I don’t really believe in that kind of curriculum. Yes, music can be competitive. Yes, it can be cut throat, but if we don’t learn from a place of love and we don’t receive the information from a place of kindness, it’s not likely going to go in. You’re basically planting seeds and those seeds are not going to bear good fruit if they’re full of hate and anger and you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. So, I’m really happy to have been placed here.”   

Top photo: Victor Garcia