Woodwind Program

WE ARE NO LONGER ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER 2010. APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER 2011 WILL BE AVAILABLE IN OCTOBER.

If you play bassoon, clarinet, flute, horn, or oboe please apply to our woodwind program. You must be available for the full six weeks of the Festival.

The woodwind program is designed to provide mature, high-level players with insight into a performing career. It includes intensive study of woodwind and mixed-ensemble chamber music repertoire. There is a different visiting guest coach in residence for four of the six weeks of the program. Each coach is in residence for one week and each of the woodwind instruments is represented once.

All woodwind program participants benefit from working with all the visiting guest coaches. Visiting guest coaches for 2010 were:

• Sue Heineman, bassoon
• Richard King, horn
• Christina Smith, flute
• Liang Wang, oboe

Our woodwind program director Igor Begelman, represents clarinet.

The woodwind program admits only 2 players in each of the instruments listed above. The top 2 players in each instrument are awarded a fellowship that will reduce their final payment by $2,900 each. Recipients of these awards are responsible for covering room, board, and any other fees. They may apply for financial assistance to help defray these costs.

Participants in the Woodwind Program receive:

• Chamber music coaching - Participants are assigned to several chamber groups that receive hour-long coachings twice each week. Each group, with support from its coach, determines its own practice schedule.
• Group instruction - Studio, repertoire, and technique classes are offered at the discretion of the visiting guest coaches.
• Masterclasses - Visiting guest coaches offer masterclasses in performance and playing technique. All masterclasses are open to all Festival participants.
• Performing experience - Fellows may have opportunities to perform with instructors and guest coaches in the Festival Fridays, Wednesday Upbeat!, Gamper Festival, and Bowdoin Festival Extra concert series. Participants will also perform in our Artists of Tomorrow concert series, presented 3 or more times each week in Studzinski Recital Hall.
• Individual practice - Participants are expected to develop and manage their own schedule such that individual practice time is prioritized and well utilized.
• Private instruction - Private lessons are given at the discretion of the visiting guest coaches.
• Digital recordings - Participants may request copies of their own performances in the Artists of Tomorrow concerts series before leaving the Festival.
• General expectations - See our Summer Study and FAQ pages.