July 11 concert presents all-Bach program

BRUNSWICK — The Bowdoin International Music Festival will continue its 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, July 11, with an all-Bach program featuring the Festival’s faculty and students, and midcoast Maine’s own Oratorio Chorale.

The program opens with a large faculty ensemble presenting Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048. Brandenburg 3 features the lush sound of a large strings section – three violins, violas, and cellos, with double bass and harpsichord.

Former Festival student and Bowdoin Virtuoso Eric Zuber then teams up with the Festival Chamber Orchestra to perform Harpsichord Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BVW 1052. Zuber, a prize winner in nine international competitions, will use the modern piano for this performance.

After intermission, the Festival Chamber Orchestra will be joined by the Oratorio Chorale, led by Brunswick-native Emily Isaacson, to present the cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BVW 140. Festival Director Lewis Kaplan will conduct.

Festival Fridays concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater. Tickets are $40.

Beethoven String Quartets Monday Night

Beethoven’s string quartet cycle is being presented in its entirety this season by the Bowdoin Festival. The Grammy Award-winning Ying Quartet performs the third concert in the series on July 14, with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2; String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 18, No. 4; and No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132.

Beethoven Mondays concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater. Tickets are $40.

Wednesday Upbeat!

The Wednesday Upbeat! concert on July 16 presents works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Claude Debussy, Franz Schubert, and George Rochberg.

The concert opens with Mozart’s Fantasy in C Minor, K. 396 performed by Festival stalwart Peter Basquin on piano. Claude Debussy’s Piano Trio in G Major, is next, performed by YiBin Li, violin; Amir Eldan, cello; and Tao Lin, piano.

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the Festival is revisiting some of the works commissioned under its banner over the years. Rochberg’s Contra Mortem et Tempus, which had its premiere at Bowdoin in 1965, will be performed by members of the Festival’s new Kaplan Fellowship Program.

Pianist Shai Wosner will then make his first Bowdoin Festival appearance in Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A Major, D.959. Wosner, who studied at The Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax, is a highly-regarded Schubert interpreter.

Wednesday Upbeat! concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Studzinski Recital Hall on the Bowdoin campus. Tickets are $40.

Artists of Tomorrow

A full week of Artists of Tomorrow student concerts, featuring the Festival’s top students, will be held on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.; Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings at 6:30 p.m.; and Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m. in Studzinski Recital Hall. Student concert programs are announced the day of the concert. To receive email announcements of student concert programs, visit www.bowdoinfestival.org. Suggested donation $10.

Mozart and Dvo?ák on tap July 18

The Festival will continue its 50th anniversary celebration on Friday, July 18, with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonín Dvo?ák.

A quartet of virtuosos from the Festival’s new Kaplan Fellowship Program will open the concert with Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, K 478.

Then a faculty ensemble comprising Ani Schnarch and Cyrus Forough, violins; Michelle LaCourse, viola; Steven Doane, cello; and Elinor Freer, piano, will collaborate on Dvo?ák’s sublime Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81.

After intermission, pianist Shai Wosner will return to the stage to present Mozart’s Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466, with the Bowdoin Festival Orchestra. Lewis Kaplan will conduct.

Festival Fridays concerts are held at 7:30 p.m. in Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater. Tickets are $40.

Bowdoin Festival Extra

The Bowdoin Festival’s educational series, Bowdoin Festival Extra, continues with four events this week. On Saturday, July 12 at 10:30 am., the Topsham Public Library will host a family concert, featuring the Festival’s woodwind program, for guests of all ages. Then, at 4 p.m. Saturday, members of the Kaplan Fellowship program will perform at Yarmouth’s First Paris Church.

On Tuesday, July 15, the Portland Public Library will host a concert at 2 p.m.

At 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 16, guest lecturer and Bowdoin College professor emeritus Elliott Schwartz will give a composition masterclass with the Festival’s composition class in Studzinski Recital Hall’s Rehearsal Room.

All Bowdoin Festival Extra events are free and open to the public.

A complete listing of all Festival performances and ticket information can be found at www.bowdoinfestival.org. For more information, call 207-725-3895.