<p>There is a new strings/piano festival (begun this year), late summer, held at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, [Sejong</a> International Music Festival](<a href=“http://www.sjimf.com/details.html]Sejong”>http://www.sjimf.com/details.html). The age of the participants ranged from about 14-28. Some of the younger participants came with their parents, who were able to stay in the dorms. </p>
<p>There is very little posted on-line about this program. When my son was researching the program, there was a post by one student who said that she didn’t have any time to see Paris as all her time was spent studying and working on homework. My son attended this program this summer and had plenty of time to go out and ‘see the sights’. His comment was that he “worked hard and played hard”. </p>
<p>A little background, my son only attended one summer composition program prior to this program (one week in Oberlin in 2010) and he had not had a formal composition lesson since 7th grade. He did take AP Music Theory his junior year of HS. </p>
<p>The program is definitely counterpoint driven and is styled after the Nadia Boulanger method. There is vocal harmony training every day. My son truly enjoyed this and found it very challenging. Overall, he said EAMA is run like a summer college program and not a summer camp. He found the program challenging and interesting. There were students from my son’s age up to the doctorate level in this program. You place into different classes/seminars based on the music theory test that is given at the beginning of the program. Students came from many schools, including but not limited to Juilliard, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, McGill, Amherst and Brigham Young. My son’s roommate was 34 and studying for his doctorate. The professor who is head of the program is a composition professor at Juilliard. </p>
<p>The building where the classes take place is old and shows it. To get to class, you take the RER and it is a straight shot to get there. It takes about 10 minutes door-to-door as long as the trains are running on time. Many of the students did not bring their instruments as they didn’t have tons of time to practice. My son is a pianist and did practice some but not on a regular basis. The pianos according to him are not the best, but serviceable. </p>
<p>If you are under 18 (my son was only 17), you will have to have a guardian. I paid $400 for one of the professors in the program to be a guardian for my son. My son didn’t need a guardian, but this is French law and you can’t get around it if you want to stay in the dorms.</p>
<p>The dorms at the Spanish House at Cite Universitaire were nice. They only provide breakfast, you are on your own for lunch/dinner. My son spent about $900 on food and entertainment during a four week period. Fortunately, as he was under 18, all the museums were free! I am sure that you can do it more cheaply if you cook for yourself all the time, but he said that the Spanish students ‘take over’ the kitchen around 10 p.m…</p>
<p>I’m a parent of a pianist who had a truly fabulous time at Interlochen last summer in the High School Piano Program. He’s now starting his junior year of HS. Question - now looking at piano programs for after his Junior year of HS - we’re looking for something different. Does anyone have any thoughts on Brevard, Aspen, or the Bowdoin Music Festival? BUTI/Tanglewood doesn’t sound like much fun. Should he repeat Interlochen?</p>
<p>Aspen and Bowdoin are similar. Their acceptance and teaching are studio-driven. That is, you audition for a particular teacher’s studio. When teachers are in high demand, getting into their studios can be mission-impossible for many pre-college students. I believe that about 80-90% of students in Aspen and Bowdoin are conservatory or graduate students. There are surely some studios in Aspen and Bowdoin that are not that in high demand. Then getting into these studios becomes more feasible. Because Aspen and Bowdoin are designed with conservatory students in mind, they are far less structured than high-school camps, such as BUTI and Interlochen. This is something students and parents need to consider.</p>
<p>While not a pianist, my son spent 4 weeks at BUTI/Tanglewood’s wind ensemble and had a blast! He said it was the most amazing 4 weeks ever. Yes, it was very challenging. It gave him a better appreciation of classical music (son’s strength is jazz). He took advantage of all the free BSO concerts and got to observe how professional musicians operate. But it wasn’t all work. He met some great kids there and plans to stay in touch with them. So, please don’t discount Tanglewood. Yes, it is demanding but if your son really wants to pursue music, he needs to get a taste of how demanding that profession is. And Lenox is truly a lovely town with great restaurants and ice cream shops. Son and his new friends even had fun “busking” in the little village and went swimming in the Lenox lake. The Tanglewood program is probably the cream of all the summer music programs and these kids recognize that and are greatly appreciative of their opportunities. However, not all Tanglewood students are fuddy-duddies; they do know how to have fun.</p>
<p>Hi everybody! I’m in my second (/third, I was a transfer) year at USC, majoring in choral music (focusing on voice and composition with a healthy dose of conducting). I was wondering if you all had any recommendations for summer festivals. As a singer I’m very interested in early music, song, and new music. I know there are a lot of opera-focused programs, and I would theoretically be interested in those too, I was just interested in seeing any other possibilities out there. At this point I’m thinking I probably won’t be applying for composition festivals, but feel free to throw a few suggestions in there as well I suppose! I’d also be interested in festivals held in France or other French-speaking locations, or just abroad in general. Thank you all so much!</p>
<p>We are applying to the Bowdoin Music Festival. Is there a way to tell whether a teacher is in high demand? We would like to be part of this, and my son is indifferent as to who the teacher is. He has found he gets a lot more attention from his teachers that are not as popular. We think if he picks one that is not in high demand there’s a better chance of being accepted into the program.</p>
<p>Also does anyone know anything about the Verbier music festival? It’s 3 weeks and looks pretty interesting.</p>
<p>Bowdoin may be different now than when my kids went years ago, but I am pretty sure you are assigned to a teacher if you don’t get your first choice. Others, correct me if I’m wrong, but that is how it was about 6 years ago. </p>
<p>Verbier is a lot more competitive than Bowdoin.</p>
<p>Last year Bowdoin asked applicants to choose two studios. There is a correlation between the demand and the competitiveness of the students accepted. At Bowdoin, there is a concert series called artists of tomorrow. To perform in this series as a soloist (not a chamber group), a student would need to want to do it, usually feel good enough about himself/herself, and has the approval from his/her teacher. In general, strongest students are featured in this series. On Bowdoin’s website, they have these solo performances and the names of the students and their teachers archived. If you see a teacher’s students often perform as soloists in this series, it may suggest that the studio is in high demand and is competitive.</p>
<p>Verbier for pianists is very different from other festivals. The academy is more for career development and networking. Thus the students attending there almost always have a performance career already. In addition, each year they takes something like only 8 students; about 2 of them are from the U.S.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any experience with the Opera on the Avalon summer program?</p>
<p>How competitive etc?</p>
<p>My sophomore daughter was accepted to cover a major role, did some scholarship money but can’t find yet just how much this costs or any kind of feedback.</p>
<p>Any thing any one has to share would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I guess we’re applying to Aspen, Bowdoin and Verbier, each for piano. I can’t tell if my son’s chances are 0% or 100% at any of these places (I suspect they are 50% for Aspen and Bowdoin and 0% for Verbier). I can’t tell the relative prestige of these festivals, whether he will actually learn anything at any of them (I’m fairly confident he will really enjoy all of them) or if they will have any meaningful effect on his college applications (although that is not why he’s doing it). I guess if we get into more than one we will let you all know. If all else fails Interlochen has invited us back for another year!</p>
<p>@RPianoDad, my son went to Bowdoin last year as a high school junior and enjoyed it very much. The piano faculty was fantastic and the participants performed pretty much every day, solo and chamber music. My son, a solo performer all his teen life, loved the chamber music experience. Having been involved in the young artist circle for a long time, I can vouch that Bowdoin is quite prestigious for teenaged serious musicians.</p>
<p>My son is looking into several music festivals this summer, Piano Texas, Yellow Barn, Sarasota, Round Top, etc. We are squeezing every penny we can find to fund his UG study this coming fall so he is only looking for ones that offer full tuition scholarship to all admitted participants. I hope he can get in at least one of them.</p>
<p>Oh one more pro of Bowdoin - although the program provides 2 private lessons a week, my son was able to receive much more than that. His teacher saw him pretty much every weekday and also signed him up for 2 master lessons.</p>
<p>I am trying to help a friend with a HS Junior daughter who goes to a Performing Arts High School. We are looking for recommendations for summer programs that would be good for her college applications - specializing in Jazz Vocalist.</p>
<p>I see a lot of summer programs on the list, but I cannot decipher which ones might specialize in jazz vocal.</p>
<p>So my son was accepted at Interlochen for their summer high school piano program and they want a $1,000 hold deposit. However he hasn’t heard from Aspen or Bowdoin. Does anyone know how competitive these two programs are for high schoolers? I can’t tell if his chances are 0% or 100%? He’s a great pianist, but it’s not like he’s played at Carnegie Hall. I cannot tell how competitive these programs are. He doesn’t want to go back to the cabins, but I don’t want to throw away the deposit either. Have to decide in a week…</p>
<p>@PianoDad, not sure about Aspen, but for Bowdoin， it really depends on the studio that your son applied to. But in general I don’t think Bowdoin is very hard to get in. And you probably can email the festival and ask about the acceptance possibility. Good luck. My S loved it.</p>
I am sure that you can do it more cheaply if you cook for yourself all the time, but he said that the Spanish students ‘take over’ the kitchen around 10 p.m…</p>