Snow Pond Center for the Arts - Summer Concert Series

Snow Pond Music Festival
June 7 -21, 2015
This summer marks the fourth year that the Snow
Pond Music Festival has attracted high-level college and
post-graduate musicians to the shores of Messalonskee
Lake. The highest caliber performers and educators
were again invited to join the SPMF faculty to present
specialized music programs with the sole purpose of
inspiring and challenging the next generation of classical
musicians. In addition to our established programs,
the Maine Chamber Music Seminar and the Frederick
L. Hemke Saxophone Institute, SPMF initiated two new
programs this year: Snow Pond Composers Workshop
and New England Group Piano Teaching Institute.
Led by Drs. Richard Nelson and Ed Jacobs, guest
composer Elliott Schwartz, and flutist Peter Bloom,
Snow Pond Composers Workshop’s mission is to guide
young composers interested in traditional composition
as well as those whose work incorporates electronics,
improvisation, jazz, rock, and other diverse elements.
The inaugural session of the Snow Pond Composers
Workshop was a week of intensive input and experiences
for creative compositional growth. The session
concluded with live performances of works created by
the participants.
Presenting effective, hands-on strategies for group
piano teaching with a single acoustic instrument or a
piano lab is the goal of the New England Group Piano
Teaching Institute. Professor Tony Caramia of Eastman-
School of Muisc and Dr. Jackie Edwards Henry of Mississippi
State University created a curriculum that offers
current and effective pedagogical insights to teaching
group piano in the 21st Century. NEGPTI was a huge
success and we look forward to expanding and welcoming
participants for years to come.
World-renowned saxophonist and pedagogue, Dr.
Frederick L. Hemke, brings 50 years of passion and
commitment to showcasing the saxophone as a beautiful
voice in classical music. Now in its third year,
the Hemke Saxophone Institute draws outstanding
musicians from Japan, Canada, and throughout the
United States to the Sidney campus for weekly lessons
and ensemble coaching. This year’s Artists-in-Residence,
the Masato Kumoi Saxophone Quartet, joined
us from Japan to share their virtuosity. Performances
took place throughout the 11-day institute, including
a recital at the First Parish Church in Brunswick.
Maine Chamber Music Seminar faculty members
Jo-Anne Sternberg, Martin Kuuskmann, Anna
Lim, Frank Shaw, Michal Schmidt and Sara Laimon
are veterans of such noted ensembles as Orpheus
Chamber Orchestra, The Knights Chamber Orchestra,
American Composers Orchestra, the Laurel Trio,
Sequitur, and Network for New Music. They offer a
unique chamber ensemble experience in which participants
focus on two to three major compositions
in the chamber music literature and work along side
this dynamic faculty. Special attention is paid to the
development of leadership skills and to learning the
delicate art of cooperation within an intimate group.
Recitals featuring MCMS participants took place during
the seminar, including one at the Belgrade Lakes
Resource Center.
The Snow Pond Music Festival is proud to host
these programs on the beautiful campus of New England
Music Camp... . . .
. . . . Dr. Gail B. Levinsky,
Director of Programming
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