The Bowdoin International Music Festival is an internationally-acclaimed six-week program designed for serious students with advanced musical ability who are motivated, disciplined, and comfortable with a significant amount of independence. Teachers and chamber coaches expect students to make full use of individual practice time and to make significant progress during their time at the festival. Students are encouraged to take advantage of all master classes and performance opportunities, and to attend all concerts. Each student's experience will reflect the energy, drive, and self-discipline he or she brings to the program.

Founded in 1964 by Lewis Kaplan and Robert Beckwith, the Bowdoin International Music Festival incorporates a music school, two artists' concert series, and the Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music during its six-week residency at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. 275 highly talented young performers of graduate, college, and high school levels further their artistic development through a concentrated program of instrumental study and composition with the festival's outstanding artist faculty, composed of many of the world's most renowned teachers and performers. Through its concert presentations, the festival brings performers of international stature and a rich variety of musical programming to thousands of residents and summer visitors.

The Bowdoin International Music Festival's forty-third summer in 2009 runs from

June 27 - August 7.

There are several concert series:

• MusicFest - Concert-series featuring members of the faculty and renowned guest artists with performances on Friday evenings.

• Upbeat - Mid-week faculty concert-series presenting a mixture of contemporary and traditional works in a casual setting, and often featuring faculty members performing new repertoire. Performances are held on Wednesdays at The Crooker Theatre at Brunswick High School.

• The Charles E. Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music - Since 1965, the festival has presented a week-long festival, dedicated to presenting works of living composers. The Gamper Festival features performances of works by the festival's composer-in-residence and guest composers as well as premieres from some of the festival's composition students.

• Student Concerts - Held several times each week throughout the six-week program, student concerts provide the festival's participants with opportunities to perform solo and chamber works before an audience of their peers, teachers, coaches and members of the public