Bowdoin International Music Festival opens June 30

“Fifty years of great music”

BRUNSWICK — More than 250 musicians from around the world will perform in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bowdoin International Music Festival, led by Festival co-founder Lewis Kaplan in his final year as artistic director. Over six weeks, renowned performing artists and aspiring virtuosos will collaborate on more than 90 concerts. From solo recitals and masterclasses to chamber concerts and orchestral performances, music lovers will be serenaded with a wealth of traditional and contemporary classical music.

The Bowdoin Festival concert season opens on Monday, June 30, with the first of six concerts presenting the complete Beethoven String Quartet Cycle, to be performed by four of America’s greatest string quartets. Concerts continue with the Wednesday Upbeat! concert on July 2, the first Artists of Tomorrow student concert on Thursday, and the opening Festival Fridays concert on July 4. The renowned Ying Quartet will take the stage for Monday’s concert; the Festival’s distinguished artist faculty perform Wednesday and Friday. Thursday’s concert will feature the Festival’s new Kaplan Fellowship program.

Beethoven String Quartet Cycle

Beethoven’s string quartets are widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in western music. The presentation of the complete cycle in one series is a rare and special event. The four quartets presenting the cycle – the Brentano, Pacifica, Shanghai, and Ying Quartets – are among the top string quartets world-wide. The Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet opens the series Monday night, June 30, with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major, Op. 127 and No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No.1.

Beethoven Mondays concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater. Tickets are $40.

Wednesday Upbeat!

The July 2 Wednesday Upbeat! concert presents works by Darius Milhaud, Sergei Prokofiev, William Bolcom, and Claude Debussy.

Milhaud’s Quatre Visages for Viola and Piano features Lionel Tertis Award-winning violist Karen Dreyfus, accompanied by Constance Moore on piano.

Amir Eldan, currently guest Principal Cellist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, will present Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata in C Major, Op. 119, accompanied by pianist Tao Lin.

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the Bowdoin Festival will reprise some of the works commissioned under its banner over the years. Bolcom’s Whisper Moon was commissioned by the Festival’s resident chamber group, the Aeolian Chamber Players, and premiered at the Whitney Museum in 1971. The performers are Lewis Kaplan, violin; Amir Eldan, cello;

; Derek Bermel, clarinet; and Peter Basquin, piano.

The concert will close with Debussy’s Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, performed by Linda Chesis, flute; Karen Dreyfus, viola, and June Han, harp. Chesis studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal at the Paris Conservatory, has been a top prizewinner at the Paris and Barcelona International Competitions, and has been called “one of the most exciting and dynamic flutists of her generation.”

Wednesday Upbeat! concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Studzinski Recital Hall on the Bowdoin campus. Tickets are $40.

Artists of Tomorrow

On Thursday, July 3, the first Artists of Tomorrow student concert will feature the inaugural class of Kaplan Fellows performing classical works. The program will be announced the day of the concert, held at 7:30 p.m. in Studzinski Recital Hall. Suggested donation $10. To receive email announcements of student concert programs, visit www.bowdoinfestival.org.

Ilya Kaler in Brahms Violin Concerto Friday

The Bowdoin Festival’s premier Festival Fridays concert series opens on July 4, with works by Beethoven, Ravel, and Brahms.

Cellist Steven Doane, long a Festival favorite, will open the concert with Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1, accompanied by pianist Elinor Freer.

Emma Tahmiziàn, winner of many international competitions, will present Ravel’s remarkable La Valse in its solo piano manifestation.

In the finale, violinist Ilya Kaler will perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77. Brahms wrote the work for – and with the collaboration of – his friend and colleague, virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim. It has since been widely performed and greatly admired. Winner of gold medals at three of the world’s most prestigious competitions (Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Paganini), Kaler is frequently compared to violinists such as Heifetz and Perlman. Lewis Kaplan will conduct the Bowdoin Festival Orchestra.

Festival Fridays concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater. Tickets are $40.

The public is invited to Bowdoin Festival extra programs. The Bowdoin Festival’s educational series, Bowdoin Festival Extra, will open with two events in the first week. On Wednesday, July 2, at 1:30 p.m., composer-in-residence Derek Bermel will conduct a composition masterclass with the Festival’s composition class in Studzinski Recital Hall’s Rehearsal Room.

On Thursday, July 3, at 4 p.m., Michel-Etien Van Neste, director of the world’s most prestigious instrumental competition, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, will give a talk on international music competitions in Gibson Hall’s Tillotson Room.

All Bowdoin Festival Extra events are free and open to the public.

Performances are held daily from June 30 through Aug. 8. The Monday Beethoven String Quartets and Festival Fridays concerts are held in Crooker Theater at Brunswick High School. Wednesday Upbeat! concerts are held in Studzinski Recital Hall, as are the Artists of Tomorrow concert series and the Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music. The Festival’s educational series, Bowdoin Festival Extra, presents free lectures, concerts, and public masterclasses in various locations. Ticketed concerts cost $40 for adults; many concerts, masterclasses, and other events throughout the season are free of charge. For more information, visit www.bowdoinfestival.org or call 207-725-3895.

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