Welcome to the 58th Season of the Bar Harbor Music Festival
Allison Kiger, Artistic Director
Francis Fortier, Founder
Tickets are on sale now. Season Brochures will be mailed soon. NEW for 2024: Discounted rear section seats and FREE tickets for all students 21 and under to most events. Season subscriptions available for $350. Call or text the Festival office to order or for ticket assistance. 207-288-5744.
Francis James Fortier, III Obituary
Violinist, conductor, artistic director, fly fisherman, brother, and husband, father, grandfather, Francis J. Fortier, III passed away early Saturday morning at the age of 86. His wife of 40 years, Deborah, and his dear friend Allison were by his side.
Spring Benefit Musicale – Cocktails, Concert and Buffet Dinner for the Bar Harbor Music Festival
Thu Apr 25, 2024 – 6:00 PM – 9:30 PM
Kosciuscko Foundation, 10065
2024 Season
SAVE THE DATES
Thursday, April 25
Spring Benefit Musicale
A Springtime Fusion of Classical Music and Jazz – Christopher Johnson, Allison Kiger, and friends. Music by George Gershwin and Claude Bolling
Info and Purchase
Wednesday, July 10
Pianist Veronica O’Brien (Festival debut)
Info and Purchase
Friday, July 12
Tea Concert
Kelly Hill, mezzo-soprano and Steven Crawford, piano
Info and Purchase
Tuesday, July 16
Bar Harbor Festival Opera Theatre:
Sondheim Tribute Revue – Celine Mogielnicki, soprano, Kelly Hill, mezzo-soprano, Omar Najmi, tenor, Isaac Bray, baritone with Steven Crawford, piano
Info and Purchase
Friday, July 19
Best of Beloved Italian Opera
Music by Rossini, Verdi, Puccini, and more – Steven Crawford pianist and former Met Opera conductor leads a program showcasing the exciting and talented young singers of the Bar Harbor Music Festival
Info and Purchase
Saturday, July 20
Young Audience Concert on Great Cranberry Island. Poems and Music, Dance and Sing with Bob Barta, Banjo and John Clark, clarinet and saxophone of the Wolverine Jazz Band. FREE to children of all ages. Made possible by Ned Swain, Devenish Wines, and the Margaret Burnham Charitable Trust
FREE
Sunday, July 21
Wolverine Jazz Band
At the Criterion
Info and Purchase
Wednesday, July 24
Janey & Friends Chamber Music
Violinist Janey Choi is joined by friends, Amadi Azikiwe (viola), Kirsten Jermé (cello), and Vadim Serebryany (piano) in a chamber music program of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio, a collection of Spiritual arrangements by Hailstork, and Dvorak’s Piano Quartet.
Info and Purchase
Friday, July 26
Appalachian Spring
For 13 instruments with the Acadia Dance Festival
Info and Purchase
Monday, July 29
Sarah Joyce Cooper
Soprano with chamber orchestra – music by Bach, Haydn, Resphighi, and Jessie Montgomery
Info and Purchase
Tuesday, July 30
Young Audience Concert “Rags to Riches” Flute, viola, and cello: Music by Haydn and Chevalier Saint-Georges. Audiences hear light classical chamber music and learn the incredible story of an escaped slave leaving the Caribbean and becoming a composer in the court of Marie-Antoinette, told by a flutist from France. Also rags and melodies by American composer Scott Joplin.
FREE
Wednesday July 31
Eric Wyrick
Music for violin and piano by Beethoven, Debussy, Grieg, Coleridge-Taylor, and Kreisler Violin recital with Candace Chien, piano
Info and Purchase
Saturday, August 3
The “Margaret Mills New Composers Concert”
At the College of the Atlantic – full day seminar by Maine composers and concert “Folk elements to the fore – Bartok and his Legacy” Eric Thomas, clarinet, Nicholas Pappone, violin, Candace Chien, piano, with world premieres by Diana M. Rodriguez and Skip La Plante
Info and Purchase
Wednesday August 7th
Christopher Johnson
Piano recital “Celebrating a Feast of Chopin and the 100th Anniversary of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue”
Info and Purchase
Sunday, October 13
Allison Kiger, flute and Christopher Johnson, Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend in Bar Harbor – Storm and Sea – Undine Sonata by Reinecke, Beethoven Pastorale Symphony Storm and Joy movements, plus works by Debussy and Takemitsu
Info and Purchase
2024 Season On Sale Soon
“…one of New England’s great music festivals”
— Nan Lincoln, The Bar Harbor Times
Our Promise to the Arts
Acclaimed by Phi Beta Baton as “…one of the nation’s proving grounds for gifted young artists,” the Bar Harbor Music Festival, founded by violinist Francis Fortier in 1967, has gained national recognition for its unique and pioneering work.
The Festival has made a major contribution to the music world by advancing the careers of over 2,300 aspiring instrumentalists, singers, and composers. Coupled with our “Arts and Tourism” initiatives, it has provided a vital cultural and economic service for the community and visitors from all over the world.
The Festival’s outreach programs, such as the admission-free outdoor concerts in Acadia National Park, artist-in-residence programs in American schools, colleges, and universities, as well as its Young Audience Concerts have won new audiences for classical music and fostered music education.
Its annual Summer Festival and Touring Program have reached out to audiences totaling over one million, as music lovers gravitate to this musical gem in the spectacular setting of Bar Harbor, Maine.
