You Can Inspire the Extraordinary
Dear Festival Friends,
Thank YOU for giving me an incredible opportunity that has transformed my relationship with music, not only as a habit and vocation, but also as a means of living and growing among others. Your enduring connection with the Bowdoin International Music Festival helped give me an experience that will influence the rest of my life.
I play the violin and was fortunate to spend this past summer as a Festival Fellow. My time at the Festival has easily been my most productive, pleasant, and picturesque musical summer to date. I am so grateful for the unbelievable privilege of performing with and learning from the Festival’s incredible faculty, and I still can’t fathom how lucky I was to perform Derek Bermel’s Death with Interruptions with David Ying and to work with both David and Phillip Ying on Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3—two uncommon delights. Having my role models take me seriously when I am still a young player has enhanced my belief in myself as a musician and the importance of what I am doing.
Explaining the joy of a summer chamber music festival to the uninitiated could be a fruitless errand. But your support of the Festival shows you understand. Your involvement has fostered an experience that has given me and all Festival students treasured opportunities: to work hard, to make friends, to experience the beauty of Maine, and to mature as professionals and people in an environment that is uniquely supportive and welcoming.
I know how fortunate I am to be able to live the joys of this life, and to be able to experience it at such a level. I hope you will encourage aspiring musicians like me by making a gift to the Festival’s Annual Fund. Your support will give others a transformative summer like it has mine, and will enrich chamber music communities around the world for years to come.
Thank you for making a difference in my life.
Jennifer Gersten, 2017 Fellow
P.S. Your contribution will benefit all who appreciate the value that extraordinary music can bring to our world. Please don’t hesitate to call the Festival to discuss additional gift ideas: 207-373-1400.