Nika Gantar accepted into the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA

HGS student Nika Gantar (S3) has been accepted into the prestigious Berklee College of Music, accompanied with a scholarship valued at $80,000 (USD). 
Congratulations are in order for HGS student Nika Gantar, who was recently notified of her acceptance into the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. Nika will be pursuing a Bachelor of Music, with a focus on voice and because of Berklee’s amalgamation with the Boston Conservatory, she will also have the opportunity to study theatre.

“I was thrilled and surprised when I found out I was accepted because Berklee has always been my top choice for university,” says Nika, whose acceptance is accompanied with a scholarship valued at $80,000 (USD) over four years. “I was initially worried about tuition costs, so when I found out about the scholarship I was even more excited!”

For more than half a century, Berklee has been the world's premier learning lab for contemporary music, leading the way with the world’s first baccalaureate studies in jazz, rock, electric guitar, film scoring, songwriting, turntables, electronic production and more than a dozen other genres and fields of study. Berklee alumni have received accolades such as Oscars, Emmys, Tonys and a total of 266 Grammy Awards to date. Notable alumni include John Mayer, Melissa Etheridge and Quincy Jones, just to name a few. Nika won’t be the only HGS alumni on campus come September -  Andrew Machum’14 is currently studying at Berklee.

Nika’s love of performing began at a young age. She’s been taking piano lessons with Natalia Pavlovskaia for more than ten years and singing lessons with Andrea Jeffrey for five years. At Grammar, she has acted in the Middle School plays King Lear and Othello, as well as the Senior School musicals Sweet Charity and Guys and Dolls. Outside of HGS, she’s participated in the Neptune Theatre’s Young Performance Company (YPCO) musicals 13 and Avenue Q.

“HGS has taught me a lot of lessons, but I think the most important one is not to be afraid of failure,” says Nika of her time at HGS. “It applies to life in general, but especially in a career like acting or music, I’ll have to face rejection all the time. HGS has instilled in me a strong sense of determination that allows me to pursue my goals, and it has made me much more resilient; both of which I am grateful for.”
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