Join us for a glorious spring evening featuring our outstanding 2026 Festival Opera Company in “Highlights from Elixir of Love” with Sarah Joyce Cooper as Adina, Omar Najmi as Nemorino, and Eliam Ramos as Belcore, with Brendon Shapiro, piano and Timatha Kasten, narrator.
Benefit Ticket includes cocktail hour with hors d’oeuvres, concert, and buffet dinner with the performers: $350. Cocktail hour and concert only: $150.
Questions? Email Allison Kiger at bhmusicfestival@aol.com
Location
Kosciuszko Foundation, 10065
Welcome to the Bar Harbor Music Festival
“A glorious summer of music!”
Allison Kiger, Artistic Director
Francis Fortier, Founder
Questions? Or prefer to order by check? Call or text
207-288-5744
All concerts FREE to everyone 21 and under thanks to the Thirsty Whale in Bar Harbor.
60th Anniversary Season – EVENT LIST
June 17 at 7:30pm Kate Fogg, soprano and Christina Spurling, piano, with Eric Thomas, clarinet for Schubert Shepherd on the Rock and works by Strauss, Puccini, Massenet, and more.
June 19 Winds and Strings, Emily Tsai, oboe, Eric Thomas, clarinet, Allison Kiger, flute, 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm
June 27 Aljoša Jurinić, piano, 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
July 2 at 4pm Oceanview Tea Concert: Sarah Joyce Mahl and friends sing American Songbook with tea and treats from BH Tea Company and bakeries
July 4 Look for us at the Bar Harbor July 4th Parade
July 5 Oceanview Lunchtime Jazz Fusion: Music of Claude Bolling with Flute, Guitar, and Jazz Piano Trio, Allison Kiger, Flute, Oren Fader, Guitar, Christopher Johnson, piano, Ross Gallagher, bass with oceanviews and a special boxed lunch
July 6 at 4pm: Mozart Opera Lecture-Demonstration with Conductor Nathaniel Meyer, Baritone Isaac Bray and Soprano Katelyn Parker Bray, FREE at the NEH library
July 6 Isaac Bray sings Rossini with the BH Town Band, FREE open air concert 7:30pm
July 7 Director’s Dinner at Havana in Bar Harbor
July 9 New Composers Concert with the Bowers-Fader Duo FREE at Jesup Library 5pm
July 11 at 2pm FREE on GCI “Bastien et Bastiènne” by Mozart Opera in Concert
July 11 Sunset and Swing – Jazz Cabaret Night with Dancing at Kebo with Timatha Kasten and Shane Ellis
July 13-16 “BHMF-at-the-Criterion Festival”
July 13 at 7:30pm Festival Chamber Orchestra plays Mozart, Copland, and Weiman, with soloists Christopher Johnson, Juan Martinez, and Allison Kiger conducted by Michael Shane Wittenburg
July 14th at 11am FREE Young Audience Opera – Bastien et Bastienne by Mozart
July 14th at 5:30 and 7:30 “Edgar Allan Poe in Motion: Silent Film and Music and Dance, works by Whitney George, Scott Joplin, William Bolcom, and more”
July 15th at 7:30pm NEW OPERA COMPANY of Boston and BHMF present Bastien et Bastiènne and “The Impresario” by WA Mozart, conducted by Nathaniel Meyer with the BHMF Opera Orchestra
July 16th at 2pm NEW OPERA COMPANY of Boston and BHMF present Bastien et Bastiènne and “The Impresario”by WA Mozart, conducted by Nathaniel Meyer with the BHMF Opera Orchestra
July 17th Young Audience Concert BRASS QUINTET at Seal Cove Auto Museum
July 22nd Vadim Serebryany, piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
July 24th Acadia Dance Festival “Memo” with live music
July 29th Janey Choi and Friends Chamber Music for Strings and Piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
August 5th Thomas Cooper, violin recital 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital Christopher Johnson, piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
August 19th Baroque Orchestra of Maine Trio 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
August 22th Yosef Feigelson, cello and Peter Adamczyk, piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
August 29th Audrey Goodner, violin and Erika Nickrenz, piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
Sept 2 Wyrick Ensemble, Chamber Music for Strings and Piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
Sept 5-6 Festival Orchestra conducted by David Alexander Rahbee, with Daniel Pyle, organ soloist and Pyotr Akulov, piano soloist, Beethoven, Poulenc, Tchaikovsky
September 9 Pyotr Akulov, piano 10:30am Morning concert with Popovers and Evening Recital 7:30pm Recital
September 20 Eric Thomas, Clarinet, 1pm at the Jesup Memorial Library
Sunday October 6 Flutist Allison Kiger and Friends chamber music: Debussy
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.
2026 Season
“…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.
