Gala event will raise funds for music scholarships

BRUNSWICK — Bowdoin International Music Festival will kick off summer with a fundraising gala Saturday, June 21, on the campus of Bowdoin College. The event celebrates 50 years of educational and creative collaboration at the Festival with all monies raised benefitting student scholarships.

The evening will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a concert by the Kaplan Fellows in Studzinski Hall followed by a cocktail reception and sit-down dinner in nearby Moulton Union. Dinner will be crowned with an artisanal dessert crafted by longtime Festival friend and James Beard Foundation Award Winner Sam Hayward, executive chef of Portland’s Fore Street Grill.

The gala concert will be the Festival’s inaugural performance of three Kaplan Fellows, violinist Hae Ji Kim, cellist Nan Cheng Chen, and pianist Hsini Huang. The Kaplan Fellowship is the newest program of the Festival, providing advanced students of college age or older in strings, woodwinds, and piano with an individualized program of study with the Festival’s renowned faculty, including instruction and mentoring on community engagement and working with diverse audiences.

Nominated by musicians with international stature, Fellows are selected by a jury of faculty artists for their musical maturity and excellence on their instrument. Fellows receive full fee support to ensure that the very best students have access to this unique, intensive professional development program. Twenty-three Festival students will participate as Fellows in 2014, its first season.

The three Kaplan Fellows will attend the gala reception providing an opportunity for the guests to learn more about these gifted individuals and their work. Tickets for the 50th Anniversary Gala are $150 per person. To purchase tickets or contribute to the scholarship fund, call 207-373-1440.

The event marks the start of the Festival’s 50th Anniversary Season, to be held June 28-Aug. 8, 2014, at Bowdoin College. The summer program will feature an all-star cast of performers and composers. Touring artists such as Sarah Chang, Ray Chen, and Jennifer Koh; the Brentano, Cassatt, Pacifica, Shanghai, and Ying Quartets; musicians from major orchestras; and emerging talents and rising stars will provide daily infusions of the best of traditional and contemporary classical music.