If you had a 14-year-old kid who was accepted into the piano summer programs for these four festivals, which one would you choose with the long-term goal to ultimately major in piano performance in college:
Thanks.
PM’ed you
I’m new to the forum. I don’t think I got it.
For example, Aspen is mostly older students (college age). Younger ones (under 18) have a special dorm (or did in my kids years - check, things change). That may be fine for your student, or a parent might feel that being surrounded by older teens, 15 - 17 year olds in dorm plus the out of dorm college-age, might be challenging for a 14 year old. In some cases at Aspen, parents rent apartments and live with their younger under 18s for the duration. Contrasting, Interlochen will be mostly under 18. Not sure about the special Institute regulations such as the Advanced Piano, but the regular “camp” includes lots of cabin “camp” activities including toilet cleaning duties. You might check what Interlochen’s “institutes” require by way of living expectations and “camp” activities unrelated to piano. May or may not be what you want for your kid. No experience with Brevard or Curtis Summerfest.
I wouldn’t hesitate to contact the powers-that-be at each place and ask any questions about camp/campus life for 14 year olds. Congrats on the acceptances!
My son will turn 15 right before Aspen starts. So he just made the cutoff to where he’s allowed to stay in the on-campus dorm for students under 18 without parental accompaniment. In Aspen, his teacher is on faculty at Juilliard. The other venues haven’t specified who he would study with at this point. We frankly were just hoping to get into just one of these programs. So I guess it’s a happy dilemma to be in.
I did Brevard back in 2012. Though I was in the high orchestra institute, it was still a fantastic and life-changing program. I’m also interning with Interlochen this summer, but I don’t know a lot about the piano program. Honestly, I feel like any of them would be good to do. Congratulations to your son!
D was very disappointed with Tanglewood. Very few classes. Most of the time was practice (which she could do at home). Faculty was not that great either Aspen would probably be worse (very oriented to college kids). Don’t know much about Brevard-but it seems a lot like Tanglewood. I would suggest the advanced piano program at Interlochen. D also LOVED Music Horizons at Eastman.
Anyone have thoughts on doing one of these summer programs the summer after a students senior year in HS? Don’t know if it would be worth it or not.
Congratulations on the acceptances! I would say at this age, he’s in a good position to explore future teachers with which he might want to study. So I would look at faculty and talk with his current teacher about who would be best fit for him. My D was very interested in one teacher and chose a summer institute to study with him. During those weeks she found out she really liked him but he would not be a good fit for her in a college setting. Very valuable information! Your son has many summers ahead to explore. Best wishes!
This is indeed great news! Congratulations! Did he receive scholarships? Would he want to do more than one?
My son didn’t do any of these, so I can’t weigh in on that, but I agree that finding out who the faculty will be is important. They all have terrific reputations for what that is worth. @mperrine might be a good resource as her daughter does Tanglewood every year. Interlochen is great as well.
I also agree with @PAPDAD that Eastman is a great program. My son loved that one and felt the level of player/faculty attention was stronger than at others he’d attended. Maybe another summer!
@TxSker, it’s very common for kids who have just graduated high school to attend a summer music festival. Value can probably only be determined by your individual circumstances. For example, the kid is continuing as a music major and the experience and/or teacher will be valuable, kid is not continuing as a music major but is “at the top of his/her game” and wants one last opportunity to enjoy focused music activities, etc. Many of the festivals include college age kids so the new graduate isn’t the youngest there. Interlochen, focusing on pre-college musicians, would be an exception to that.
This kid is 14 and apparently got into Curtis Summerfest, Aspen, Brevard and Interlochen. Wow, 14!
Curtis is very selective of course. I think alumni may teach in the summer, not sure. That would be a great way to see what attending the conservatory in Philly might be like (and he is young to be thinking about schools, perhaps). It is a summer urban experience which some would like, some not. I would assume it is pretty rigorous.
Brevard is more on the rustic camp side and has a separate high school program, and a separate college program. People seem to love it. I assume there are some camp like activities so it would be very age-appropriate.
Aspen has the advantage of a Juilliard teacher so if he might ultimately be interested in Juilliard, that could be a plus . But it is a large festival and he would be very much on the youngest side of the age spectrum so there could be pressure of various kinds.
I don’t know much about Interlochen but it comes up on the forum and people seem to both love it and find it excellent. I don’t know how much kids from the various arts intermingle but that could be a plus.
Just to repeat what other posters said, teacher is an important factor, though he is still pretty far from undergrad. And a program that fits your kid’s age, maturity and the balance he wants between work and play for the summer.
I think peers are important too. Some kids thrive with very serious peers, with competition, with an atmosphere that is intense etc. etc. and some might like a summer experience with a variety of peers, more “fun” and down time, and so on. I don’t know what these programs offer in this regard and we don’t know your son’s preferences.
There are certainly many years ahead to attend programs 
Wow @PianoDad88 . What a great problem to have! He cannot go wrong with any of these choices. I agree though with the responses suggesting peers are important. My soprano D went to Interlochen for a couple of years and loved it! There was this very talented pianist boy from our hometown who went to Interlochen during the same time as my D and wouldn’t trade his summer experiences at Interlochen with anything else primarily because of the camp setting fun and his same age peers not to mention the excellent faculty. He was outstanding at Interlochen eventually winning 1st place at the Concerto Competition.
This boy is presently an undergraduate student at Juilliard.