The Bowdoin International Music Festival is an annual summer music school and concert series that takes place in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

. Founded in 1964 as a program of

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

, it has operated as an independent

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

since 1997.Nangle, Hilary M. - Article, Strad Magazine ,

Concert Series

During its six-week season, the Festival presents 20 concerts in four professional series and more than 200 Young Artists Series Performances, Community Concerts, masterclasses, studio classes, and lectures. Regular faculty and guests include the

Ying Quartet Ying may refer to: People * Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos * Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...

Yefim Bronfman Yefim "Fima" Naumovich Bronfman (russian: Ефим Наумович Бронфман; born April 10, 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist. Biography Bronfman was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and immigrated to Israel at the age of 15. H ...

Paul Katz Paul Katz is an American cellist, who was a member of the Cleveland Quartet from 1969 to 1995.Katherine Millett "Cellist Paul Katz Puts His Students on Equal Footing" ''Strings'' August/Sept, 2007 He and his wife, pianist Pei-Shan Lee, reside in B ...

, Brentano Quartet,

Borromeo String Quartet The Borromeo String Quartet is an American string quartet, in residence at the New England Conservatory since 1992. They have performed throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, at numerous festivals and in many distinguished chamber mu ...

Emanuel Ax Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher in the Juilliard School. Early life Ax was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Lviv, Ukraine, (in what was then the Soviet Union) to Joachim and ...

Glenn Dicterow Glenn Dicterow (born December 23, 1948), is an American violinist and former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music where he holds the Jascha ...

Igor Begelman Igor Begelman is a virtuoso clarinet player."Clarinet virtuoso to play Sunday," ''Ridgefield Press'' April 6, 1995 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=SX5EAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bbIMAAAAIBAJ&dq=igor%20begelman&pg=1618%2C3492874 Daniel Webster "Taking the c ...

Shanghai Quartet The Shanghai Quartet is a string quartet that formed in 1983. The quartet is made up of: first violinist Weigang Li, second violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, violist Honggang Li, and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras. On November 20, 2020 the ensemble announ ...

, and other musicians.

History

In May 1964, Bowdoin College Music Department chair Robert K. Beckwith invited Lewis Kaplan to propose a summer concert series to take place at the College that summer. Kaplan was known at the time as the founder and leader of the Aeolian Chamber Players, a mixed-timbre chamber ensemble that performed both classical and contemporary music. Kaplan was also asked to design a summer music school for the following summer. Thus the Bowdoin College Summer Music Festival was born. After a successful first summer of concerts, the Aeolian Chamber Players returned in 1965 with 19 students and a cadre of contemporary composers, including Elliott Carter, Meyer Kupferman, George Rochberg, and Morton Subotnick. Thus began the Festival's contemporary music component, which came in time to be known as the Charles E. Gamper Festival, after its chief patron. In 1966, George Crumb made the first of many appearances for the world premiere of his Eleven Echoes of Autumn, 1965. The Bowdoin Festival grew rapidly as a program of the Bowdoin College Music Department through the 70's, 80's, and 90's, changing its name along the way to the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival. In 1997, the Festival became an independent non-profit organization, and in 2004 changed its name to Bowdoin International Music Festival. Kaplan continued as the Festival's director through its 2014 season, when the Festival celebrated its 50th summer as a teaching and presenting institution. In September 2014, David and Phillip Ying, members of the famed Ying Quartet, became the Festival's Artistic Co-Directors.

References

{{Music venues of Maine Recurring events established in 1964 Classical music festivals in the United States Music festivals in Maine Tourist attractions in Cumberland County, Maine Tourist attractions in Brunswick, Maine Music festivals established in 1964 Bowdoin College