Fellowship for String Quartet

The Festival is pleased to offer a String Quartet Fellowship for pre-formed string quartets. “There are more string quartets forming now than at any other time in history, and there is more music written for the string quartet than any other ensemble,” said David Ying, Artistic Director. “I recently read that this isn’t the Golden Age of string quartets, but the Platinum. I’d have to agree.” Ying calls the string quartet, “one of the great chamber music ensembles.”

The String Quartet Fellowship follows the format of the immensely popular Fellowship Program, which was created in 2014 in celebration of the Festival’s 50^th anniversary season. The String Quartet program is geared to accomplished players at the beginning of careers in music, with a focus on the study and performance of string quartet literature. The String Quartet Fellows will have multiple years of experience playing and growing as an ensemble and will have developed into a mature quartet. Fellows collaborate with faculty to create an individualized program of training with artist instructors and chamber coaches. Fellows also have the unique opportunity to have featured performances in our concert series. The quartet will have significant exposure both within the Festival and throughout the community.

Thanks to the String Quartet Program, our student concerts are at an all-time high in terms of quality and attendance. As the quartet arrives as a pre-formed cohesive ensemble, they create incredibly polished performances. “We have great empathy for them, and they are on the cusp of doing important things,” Ying says. “We want to provide this opportunity for them to grow, develop, and learn.” And, in an effort to make this program accessible to all applicants, every fellow is provided with room, board, and full tuition.

This summer the String Quartet Fellows will gather on the Bowdoin College campus to study with our renowned artist instructors, guest artists, soloists, and fellow pre-professional classical musicians from around the world. While here, they will enjoy six weeks of intensive chamber music study, collaboration, and performances for audiences in Brunswick, Maine and the surrounding region. The Fellows will work with a vast array of musicians from groups such as the American, Calidore, Jupiter, and Ying Quartets, and major conservatories like Eastman, Indiana, Juilliard, New England Conservatory, Peabody, and London’s Royal College. Together with Festival faculty, staff, and students, Fellows will collaborate to present numerous concerts and public educational events throughout their six-week residency.

Interested artists can learn more about our the program and apply on our String Quartet Fellowship page.