Music Festival Master List

<p>Congrats PianoMan!!</p>

<p>TVenee, Congratulation to your child about Greenwood. Can I ask you if this was for junior or senior Greenwood? My younger son who went to Greenwood for 3 years in junior session auditioned for senior session this year and we are still waiting to hear. How and when did you find out? Email or through the mail? He got into Kinhaven and we need to let them know soon if he is coming. My son enjoyed Greenwood in the past and hopes he gets to pick between them. Thanks for the info. </p>

<p>Sure! She got a letter in the mail Thursday for the Senior Camp. Iā€™ve heard fantastic things about Greenwood! She is looking so forward to it!</p>

<p>My son is a rising high school junior pianist. He as gone to Interlochen for the last three summers. It was suggested that he move on to something more - where he can meet potential college/conservatory teachers. One suggestion was the Eastern Music Festival. </p>

<p>I donā€™t know much about the festivals that are open to high school students. I see that about 25 percent of the pianists at EMF are in high school. Also, Bowdoin has about the same amount. First, how good is it to be high school student in a college-dominated festival? Second, can you really connect with potential college-level private studio teachers? Do people target festivals where there are specific teachers? How likely is it to get a specific teacher? At Interlochen, you can make a request, but there are no guarantees. </p>

<p>We stopped at Oberlin on the way home and discussed whether one can guarantee a particular teacher at a school. Schools want you to do your homework and select one or two teachers to have practice lessons with. That would imply that there is a way to ensure that connection. The answer was that there were no guarantees, but if the teacher wants you, she/he will go to bat for you. This doesnā€™t sound assuring if the reason you select a college is because of the teacher. Can you accept a college on the condition of having a particular teacher?</p>

<p>What other summer music festivals would be good to look into for high school pianists? Chamber music is good (he did the Schumann piano quintet this summer along with a lot of solo and piano duet work), but it would be better if the program focused on the solo repertoire, especially since he would be preparing his audition pieces.</p>

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Some schools will have mechanisms by which accepted students (or even students applying for the program) can selected their desired teacher, but it isnā€™t a guarantee. My advice would essentially be the same as Oberlinā€™s: establish rapports with teachers with whom you and your child will have interest, and make sure they know your names. Keep in contact with teachers after the practice lesson just so that they can continue to have your childā€™s name in their memory.</p>

<p>

Iā€™ve been for the past few summers at the [California</a> Summer Music](<a href=ā€œcsmusic.orgā€>http://csmusic.org/) festival, which has a small but decent piano program, run by Hans Boepple (former IU Jacobs faculty), and to my knowledge most (if not all) of the pianists are high schoolers (with two or three college students). The festival does place a major focus on chamber musicĀ—every performer is assigned to a groupĀ—but there is definitely emphasis placed on the development of the artist as a soloist as well.</p>

<p>ā€“</p>

<p>For the list, I would also recommend the [Accent</a> festival of CCM UCincinnati](<a href=ā€œhttp://ccm.uc.edu/accent.html]Accentā€>http://ccm.uc.edu/accent.html). Itā€™s short-but-sweet festival (nearly a week long), but itā€™s nonetheless a decent program for both composers and (especially) composers. The faculty largely changes with each year, and this yearsā€™ faculty included the Momenta Quartet and composer Claude Baker (IU). It was altogether a wonderful experience and I as a composer got a lot out of it, and I believe CCM students can do this festival for credit as well.</p>

<p>Thanks for the information. I still find it odd that if the private teacher is more important than the school, then why do many schools have no guarantees. I assume that there have been real problems associated with this issue. Even with the internet, itā€™s hard to select potential teachers on anything more than a superficial basis. </p>

<p>Thanks also for the festival recommendations.</p>

<p>While I canā€™t speak to the quality of the piano program specifically as my S is a vocalist, he just returned from six weeks at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. BUTI is entirely high-school aged musicians, with faculty from what seemed to me a wide variety of college and university music schools. The Young Artists Vocal Program was, to use the cliche, a ā€œlife-changing experienceā€ for S. He worked very hard, learned a tremendous amount, and improved both in singing and maturity. In 2011 he attended Brevard Music Centerā€™s high-school level program (also life-changing but somewhat less intense). From my musically uneducated perspective, both programs seemed to be well run and provided excellent opportunities for serious music study and collaboration with both peers and faculty.</p>

<p>We were told that for BUTI, ā€œPiano is a sideline.ā€ I think thatā€™s why my sonā€™s summer teacher recommended EMF. Iā€™m not willing to give up on BUTI (and donā€™t know if EMF is right either), but I would like to know what percentage do the full 6 weeks. How much is solo development and how much is chamber work? My son is going into his fifth year of doing chamber music, but thatā€™s not what they will look at when he does his college audition. Are there any festivals that develop recital programs and skills?</p>

<p>Interlochen has informal recitals weekly (you volunteer or get volunteered), so there is some solo development. (Itā€™s better to arrive with pieces ready to go or nearly ready to go.) It also offers master classes with guest artists. They increased that number this year to three, but you still have to sign up and get selected. Unfortunately, Interlochen has no formal piano recital at the end of camp. I find that odd. Pianists donā€™t get the same visibility as WYSO. When he played the Schumann quintet (first two movements) in concert, they did have a program, but the venues are taxed to the limit at the end of camp. After an hour, the remaining chamber groups had to leave a nice concert hall for the open-air gazebo to make way for a piano duet recital. It might be lovely for passersby, but not necessarily for the musicians.</p>

<p>At Interlochen, my son had a piano seminar class, a composition class, a theory class, a piano ensemble class, a chamber music class, a studio/recital/master class, and a weekly private lesson. He played and performed solo pieces, duets, and a chamber piece. He also did some accompanying and played his own and someoneā€™s elseā€™s composition in concert. There was pressure to get more done in less time, but the goal seemed to be breadth, not depth. He was picked to play with WYSO, but thought that chamber music would be a better use of his time. (You canā€™t hear the piano in most cases, although it might be fun to play on the main stage of Kresge Sunday nights.) Interlochen has a really high level of energy, but you have to pay attention or else you will miss opportunities.</p>

<p>I remember reading one college recruiter on CC who said that BUTI might be viewed as a good follow-on for Interlochen, but also claimed that he had been surprised by some who had fantastic musical resumes, but disappointing auditions. So, as a rising junior, we are already discussing audition repertoire.</p>

<p>PianoParent,</p>

<p>My S was in BUTI piano program this summer. There were 2 sessions, each 15 students. I believe there are 5 of them doing both sessions. Thus, a total of 25 students. I overheard from the parent of a participating student that there were close to 300 applicants this year. So the acceptance rate is about 10%. There were returning students. One of them is attending Juilliard college division, I believe. Students came from a total of 4-6 different countries.</p>

<p>Among the 15 students that I was able to hear, about 1/3 of them seemed to be competition materials for major high-school-age piano competitions. 14 of the 15 students were playing extremely difficult pieces. I heard 1 student played quite convincing Liszt sonata there. About 4-5 weeks before the beginning of the camp, students were assigned a new piece and asked to perform at the end of their sessions. Examples of these new pieces include Rachmaninoff etudes, Liszt etudes from Transendental Etudes, etc. This is the piece my S played:</p>

<p>[Rachmaninov</a> Etudes-Tableaux op. 33 no. 6 in E flat minor - YouTube](<a href=ā€œBUTI (Piano) 2012: Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableaux op. 33 no. 6 in E flat minor - YouTubeā€>BUTI (Piano) 2012: Rachmaninoff Etudes-Tableaux op. 33 no. 6 in E flat minor - YouTube)</p>

<p>There were Chopin etude workshop, scale workshop, private lessons, masterclasses, 5 student performances, concerto workshop, etc. The curriculum focused on solo performance and was organized like a mini-conservatory. There were opportunities for chamber music, but most students did not do it. Haaā€¦what can you expect from pianists? :)</p>

<p>There are good things and there are not-so-good things about BUTI. The foremost strength of this camp is its student body. The Lenox village is lovely. The cafeteria food is poor. My S had a good time there; he really likes the village. Some students liked the teaching there, and some did not; just like other camps.</p>

<p>Thanks for the detailed feedback. My son applied to BUTI for only both sessions, so I donā€™t know if that made it more difficult to get in. He also missed having a live audition because all of the time slots were filled up by the time we were ready to pick a date. We had to send in an audio tape. I donā€™t know if that made a difference, but itā€™s probably good to remember that the slots fill up. At Interlochen, there are perhaps 40-50 high school pianists. There are some very good pianists, but the low end is not high. Some donā€™t play in any recital.</p>

<p>We also sent in audio of live performances, not careful studio recordings. You would think that live performances would be a better reflection of musical level. Does anyone have any comment about that, since auditions are live and under pressure. Perhaps you donā€™t get any extra credit for live recordings. Do you get extra credit for live auditions?</p>

<p>ā€œHaaā€¦what can you expect from pianists?ā€</p>

<p>I havenā€™t met any pianists who think that chamber work detracts from solo development. My son loves chamber work and there seems to be more pianists signing up for chamber groups at his music school. However, I donā€™t think he would like a summer festival that was only chamber work. Also, he is at the point where solo audition development should be his main concern along with having lessons with potential studio teachers. However, many potential teachers appear to do only master classes at festivals.</p>

<p>Chamber music experience surely enriches the entire music learning. There are many things that pianists can learn from, for example, string players. However, there are only so many days and hours in a camp. If one signes on a new chamber music piece and the piece is not learned before the camp, this new performance obligation may cloud out solo and concerto learning. For example, three 17-year-old students were initially assigned for the BUTI concerto workshop. But one of them would need to drop out because of his engagement with the chamber music performance. If my understanding is correct, he got like 3 or 4 days for learning as a substitute because it was another person initially signed on that chamber music piece. There are camps that pre-assigned chamber music pieces before students arrive; there are camps do it the other way around.</p>

<p>Piano is a pretty self-sufficient instrument. One can play a symphony reduction on a solo piano. Solo and to some degree concerto are the major things for piano students. In fact, college auditions require only solo pieces. If my understanding is correct, for other instruments, college auditions mostly requires concerto pieces as well. For this and many other reasons, piano students in a camp tend to want to have teachers work on their solo pieces.</p>

<p>My S did the Boston live audition. Not really know whether it helped. We did it because my S had very few live audition and no competition experiences. We did it to enrich his experiences.</p>

<p>My daughter ( currently a Junior) was part of the inaugural program last summer and loved it. She had great coaching/private lesson experiences, and the orchestra, although small was excellent and she shared concertmaster duties with another young lady; she took the first concert, and my daughter the second.</p>

<p>Everything was very well run and there was enough practice time which was a huge issue for us. She was at BUTI in her 9th grade summer- Young Artists Orchestra and she loved it- we just about had to peel her away from the dorms when it was time to go. However, (and this is big if your child is aiming for solo performance) it is a long- 6 weeks program and the schedule is packed. They play many many hours a day preparing major repertoire and also playing in chamber ensembles. Finding enough time to keep up a practice schedule of solo/concerto rep. on top of the BUTI schedule is very difficult. BUTI is magnificent- a magical experience but you must realize what you are signing on for.</p>

<p>Since next year will be her audition year for music school- we opted to audition for just the BUTI Chamber program this year and if she is not accepted, simply put in a lot of practice and extra lessons during the summer. We are also waiting to hear about the Curtis program and if it is being offered again this year.</p>

<p>Forgot to add also- my son did the BUTI 2 week Percussion program and it was also excellent. It was a huge learning experience for him. He is currently a Percussion performance major at Baylor.</p>

<p>Also- NYU has a series of summer programs-really wide variety of choices for music and with a good reputation:</p>

<p><a href=ā€œhttp://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/summer[/url]ā€>http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/summer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Does anyone know anything about the summer program at Curtis?</p>

<p>I recently found out about this awesome flute masterclass weekend happening this summer in New York, just outside the city. Masterclasses with awesome college teachers/soloists, John Thorne, Alexa Still, Marco Grenados, Gary Schocker and Stephanie Mortimore (principal piccoloist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Check it out here:
[Flute</a> Masters! Festival | Bronxville, NY 10708](<a href=ā€œhttp://www.flutemastersfestivalny.com/]Fluteā€>http://www.flutemastersfestivalny.com/)</p>

<p>Does anybody know anything about the Brevard Music Institute? I got accepted (Iā€™m a high schooler), but Iā€™d like to know more about it before I spend a couple thousand dollars going there. How hard is it to get in because I really donā€™t consider myself that good at pianoā€¦</p>

<p>Hi, Iā€™m not sure if Iā€™m replying to a post or just getting my question out there. Many of you seem very informed so Iā€™m hoping you might all jump in with your advice. My D (flute) and S (horn) have both been accepted to Greenwood (S, piano too) and Brevard. D was waitlisted at BUTI and Eastern. S accepted at BUTI Wind Ensemble and Eastern. S is only in 8th grade so we are hoping to have the two either in the same festival or close by. As we are from Long Island, and since D was at Brevard last year (loved it!), we are leaning toward both attending Greenwood or D to Greenwood and S to BUTI down the block. Of course the Brevard/Eastern thing is a little scarier being that they are hours apart in NC and 12 hours from us. Furthermore, I heard that EMF has a lot of college kids so maybe a 14 year old wouldnā€™t fit in? Greenwood from all accounts sounds awesome and a great fit. Does anyone have an opinion about the orchestra aspect of Greenwood? The chamber is great but I am searching for what sort of rep the orchestra will be performing weekly. Of course, Iā€™m sure itā€™s not Mahler 8 or Rite of Spring, but Iā€™m hopeful that they perform Mozart/Haydn/Early Beethoven as well as any other great chamber works (Schoenberg etc.) We really donā€™t want to have the kids north and south like last summer so any information to help us make a decision is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!</p>

<p>dgs650, My violinist kid has 3 great years at Greenwood at Greenwood Junior and last summer got into Greeenwood Senior but choose to go to Kinhaven Senior instead so he could study with a specific teacher. Loved Kinhaven Senior and is going back this summer but we know several kids who have gone to Greenwood Senior and thought it was very good and level of play was very high. These were all string players I might add. If you care I would ask what private lesson situation is like at Greenwood. They had very limited private lessons during the junior camp. I have an older kid who did a lot of other music camps (Interlochen, Apple Hill, Luzerne, Point CounterPoint to name a few.) For my kids Greenwood and Kinhaven were magical and meaningful experiences.</p>

<p>dgs650, You might want to see if you can find some recordings of the Greenwood Orchestra online to see what level of play it. I bet you can find out what they played for past few years from their website as well.</p>

<p>cellocompmom, THANKS! My d is in contact with the private teacher and I think itā€™s a great match. I could not find any programs on the website and my d found only one orchestra performance on Youtube. Iā€™ll check again. Personally, I am sold, I just want my d to be sold. S is easy. Thanks again for your insight!</p>

<p>Oh, Ihaveaunicorn - Brevard is terrific, but I am not sure about the piano. I do know one of the faculty members is awesome as he gave a masterclass years ago that my s attended. He teaches at USC, (I think). As for the level of players, a 14 or 15 year old pianist won the concerto competition (beating the college kids too!) and performed Brahms 1st Piano Concertoā€¦ I think. Memory not so hot suddenlyā€¦</p>