Biography
Jessica is a performer and teacher based out of State College, Pennsylvania. She was Instructor of Horn at Eastern Illinois University from 2018 to 2025 where her duties included teaching horn, brass methods, and music appreciation courses.
In 2025 she moved to Pennsylvania when her husband Ben Carrasquillo became the Assistant Professor of Trombone at Penn State.
Jessica plays Assistant Principal and Utility Horn with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and was Second Horn with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony for ten years. She has also performed with the Quad City Symphony, Peoria Symphony, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, the Gil Evans Project, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Chicago, the Southwest Michigan Symphony, da Corneto Opera Company, Millikin-Decatur Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.
In 2018 Jessica completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Horn Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During this degree she studied horn with Bernhard Scully and also studied jazz improvisation with Jim Pugh. Her dissertation project was titled "Jazz Influence on Unaccompanied Horn Literature: A Guide to Performing Solo Works by Douglas Hill, David Amram, and Dana Wilson."
Prior to working on her doctorate, Jessica worked as a freelancer and private teacher in the Chicago area from 2011-2015.
In 2025 she moved to Pennsylvania when her husband Ben Carrasquillo became the Assistant Professor of Trombone at Penn State.
Jessica plays Assistant Principal and Utility Horn with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and was Second Horn with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony for ten years. She has also performed with the Quad City Symphony, Peoria Symphony, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, the Gil Evans Project, Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Chicago, the Southwest Michigan Symphony, da Corneto Opera Company, Millikin-Decatur Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.
In 2018 Jessica completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Horn Performance and Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During this degree she studied horn with Bernhard Scully and also studied jazz improvisation with Jim Pugh. Her dissertation project was titled "Jazz Influence on Unaccompanied Horn Literature: A Guide to Performing Solo Works by Douglas Hill, David Amram, and Dana Wilson."
Prior to working on her doctorate, Jessica worked as a freelancer and private teacher in the Chicago area from 2011-2015.
Primary Teachers:
Education
D.M.A. University of Illinois, 2018
M.M. University of Michigan, 2011
B.M. Illinois Wesleyan University, 2009
- University of Illinois: Bernhard Scully
- University of Michigan: Adam Unsworth and Bryan Kennedy
- Illinois Wesleyan University: Christine Janicki
- Neil Kimel of the Lyric Opera of Chicago
- David Griffin of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Education
D.M.A. University of Illinois, 2018
M.M. University of Michigan, 2011
B.M. Illinois Wesleyan University, 2009
