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Winter Harbor Music Festival announces inaugural season
by Deirdre McArdle-Manning for Vocal Area Network
Posted June 25, 2009

Winter Harbor Music FestivalThe first annual Winter Harbor Music Festival will take place this August 16 through 23 in a spectacular setting at the "down east" tip of Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park, where the pounding Atlantic surf meets the rockbound coast of Maine.

This week-long festival offers experienced singers and instrumentalists a unique opportunity to study and perform together, as solo, chamber, choral and orchestral musicians. Participants work with a faculty of acclaimed artists and teachers in ensemble coaching sessions, master classes and choral-orchestral rehearsals; private lessons are available, as well. Advanced performers may collaborate in concerts with faculty and guest artists.

The great flutist Carol Wincenc will participate as the festival's guest artist. The faculty includes soprano and voice teacher Catherine Aks; Evangeline Benedetti, cellist in the New York Philharmonic, and just the second woman to have been accepted to that orchestra; Gena Raps, concert pianist and faculty member at the Mannes College of Music; flutist and chamber musician Deirdre McArdle-Manning; and Daniel Paget, accomplished conductor, composer, arranger and professor of music who will lead the larger vocal-instrumental ensembles. Dr. Gregory Lombardo, an eminent child psychiatrist, will lecture on the brain and creativity, and Ms. Benedetti will give daily seminars in Alexander technique.

The inaugural Winter Harbor Music Festival will be a marvelous "down east" Maine party, in a setting replete with lobsterfests and stunning seascapes, unforgettable views of Mount Desert Island, hiking trails and opportunities for whale watching. For this first season, a select number of participants will have the opportunity to work with a remarkable circle of renowned musicians who wish to share their artistry and love of making glorious music.

If this might interest you, or someone you know, please check out our new website at www.winterharbormusicfestival.com.  For more information about the festival, travel and accommodations, applications and registration, call Deirdre McArdle-Manning at 917-238-0918, or contact her via e-mail at deirdre_mcardle_manning@yahoo.com.

We hope to see you at the Winter Harbor Music Festival this August!


Deirdre McArdle-Manning is a flutist and chamber musician.


Content Contact: Deirdre McArdle-Manning.
Revision Date: June 30, 2009.
Technical Contact: Steve Friedman.

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