There’s no doubt that attending a summer festival can be beneficial for your career. It allows you to meet musicians from across the world, expand your knowledge of solo, chamber, and orchestral repertoire, experience a new place, learn from some of the industry’s best, stay active in music throughout the summer, and enhance your C.V.. However, many festivals take up the entire summer, are incredibly expensive, and frankly, aren’t feasible for most students.
As someone who couldn’t afford attending a festival for the entire summer, I was frustrated by the pressure I felt to participate in one. I didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars, didn’t want to be away from my husband for three months, and had other musical and non-musical pursuits planned over the break. But, I couldn’t ignore the benefits of attending a festival, so I started searching for short festivals that wouldn’t take up my whole summer or drain my savings account. I found one, and for two weeks in 2022, I had a wonderful experience at the Wintergreen Music Festival that led to an expanded professional network, acquiring new knowledge, and further opportunities for my career.
Knowing how beneficial attending Wintergreen was for me and how hard it was to find a short program (PS: Wintergreen is tuition free), I wanted to provide others with a list of “short” summer music festivals in 2024. I have chosen to define “short” festivals as those that are less than a month long. Some of these are a couple of days and others are a full four weeks, but none of them are the entire summer. I have sorted them into three categories: those with an orchestral focus, those with a chamber focus, and those that are specifically for flute players. Each listing also has the dates, location, age eligibility, and application deadline of the festival, as well as the link to the festival’s website for more information.
I hope you find this list useful, and please let me know if I have missed a festival as I would love to add it to the list!
Primarily Orchestral
International festivals are marked with **
Colorado College Summer Music Festival
- Dates: June 2-21, 2024
- Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
Frost School at Festival Napa Valley’s Blackburn Music Academy
- Dates: July 3-21, 2024
- Location: Napa, California
- Eligibility: Ages 18-36
- Application Due: February 1, 2024
- Dates: August 11-22, 2024
- Location: Lake George, New York
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 1, 2024
Miami Beach Classical Music Festival
- Dates: June 24 – July 21, 2024
- Location: Miami Beach, Florida
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: January 15, 2024
- Dates: August 6-18, 2024
- Location: Dresden, Germany
- Eligibility: Unknown
- Application Due: TBD
- Dates: June 2-15, 2024
- Location: Chestertown, Maryland
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 11, 2024
National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute
- Dates: July 1- July 29, 2024
- Location: Washington, D.C
- Eligibility: Ages 15-20
- Application Due: January 21, 2024
Prague Summer Nights: Young Artists Music Festival**
- Dates: June 15- July 15, 2024
- Location: Prague, Czech Republic
- Eligibility: Ages
- Application Due: January 15, 2024
- Dates: June 13-29, 2024
- Location: Vancouver (June 13-16) and Powell River (June 17-29), British Columbia, Canada
- Eligibility: Unknown
- Application Due: February 29, 2024
- Dates: Varies, maximum range is May 13 – June 9, 2024
- Location: Charleston, South Carolina
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: January 10, 2024
- Dates: June 1-23, 2024
- Location: Houston, Texas
- Eligibility: Ages18-30
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
Primarily Chamber Music
International festivals are marked with **
Akropolis Chamber Music Institute
- Dates: August 3-11, 2024
- Location: Petoskey, Michigain
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: April 1, 2024
Apple Hill Chamber Music Workshop
- Dates: Session 1 from June 14-23, Session II from June 28 – July 7, Session III from July 12-21, Session IV from July 26 – August 4, and Session V from August 9-18, 2024
- Location: Nelson, New Hampshire
- Eligibility: Ages 13+
- Application Due: April 15, 2024
- Dates: July 15 – August 4, 2024
- Location: North Adams, Massachussets
- Eligibility: Ages 21+
- Application Due: January 11, 2024
Cortona Sessions for New Music**
- Dates: June 10-21, 2024
- Location: Ede, Netherlands
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: January 5, 2024
Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival
- Dates: June 23 – July 21, 2024
- Location: Colchester, Vermont
- Eligibility: High school through graduate students
- Application Due: February 1, 2024
- Dates: Full session from June 23 – July 19, 2024, or half sessions (two weeks) from either June 23 – July 5, 2024, or July 7 – July 19, 2024
- Location: Killington, Vermont
- Eligibility: High school through graduate students
- Application Due: March 1, 2024
Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival
- Dates: June 16-22, 2024
- Location: La Pointe, Wisconsin
- Eligibility: Ages 18-24
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
- Dates: June 7-22, 2024
- Location: Sidney, Maine
- Eligibility: “Advanced college, graduate, and post-graduate level musicians”
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
- Dates: June 3-22, 2024
- Location: Saratoga Springs, New York
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: April 1, 2024
Nief-Norf Summer Music Festival
- Dates: June 1-16, 2024
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 29, 202
Oregon Bach Festival – Berwick Academy, Chamber Music Focus, but Performed on Baroque and Classical Flute
- Dates: Session 1 (Baroque) is from June 25 – July 2, 2024, and Session 2 (Classical) is from July 3- July 10, 2024
- Location: Eugene, Oregon
- Eligibility: Unknown
- Application Due: January 31, 2024
- Dates: Full Session from June 4-30, 2024, Session 1 from June 4-16, 2024, and Session 2 from June 17-30, 2024
- Location: Estes Park, Colorado
- Eligibility: Ages 18-24
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
- Dates: June 1-23, 2024
- Location: Sarasota, Florida
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
- Dates: May 25 – June 9, 2024
- Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Eligibility: No age limit
- Application Due: February 15, 2024
The Chamber Music Workshop, Perlman Music Program
- Dates: May 25 – June 16, 2024
- Location: Shelter Island, New York
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 2, 2024
- Dates: July 14-28, 2024
- Location: Wintergreen, Virginia
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: March 1, 2024
Zodiac Music Academy and Festival**
- Dates: July 2-15, 2024
- Location: Valdeblore, France
- Eligibility: Ages 17-35
- Application Due: April 1, 2024
Flute Specific Festivals
International festivals are marked with **
Aria International Summer Music Academy
- Dates: Session 1 is from June 19 – July 4, 2024, and Session 2 is from July 6-21, 2024
- Location: South Hadley, Massachusetts
- Eligibility: Ages 16-28
- Application Due: April 3, 2024
- Dates: July 24-28, 2024
- Location: Borrello, Italy
- Eligibility: All ages
- Application Due: Unknown
- Dates: June 16-29, 2024
- Location: Saint-Irénée, Québec
- Eligibility: Ages 18+
- Application Due: February 7, 2024
- Dates: August 19-25, 2024
- Location: Grolloo, The Netherlands
- Eligibility: All ages
- Application Due: Unknown
Interharmony International Music Festival**
- Dates: Session 1 is from July 2-14, 2024, and Session 2 is from July 16-28, 2024
- Location: Acqui Terme, Piedmont, Italy
- Eligibility: Ages 14+
- Application Due: February 1, 2024
International Flute Seminar Bruges**
- Dates: July 9-14, 2024
- Location: Bruges, Belgium
- Eligibility: All ages
- Application Due: April 1, 2024
International Forum for Flute and Piano**
- Dates: July 19-28, 2024
- Location: Diekirch, Luxembourg
- Eligibility: Unknown
- Application Due: TBD
- Dates: August 11-16, 2024
- Location: Reading, United Kingdom
- Eligibility: All ages
- Application Due: Unknown
Scottish International Flute Summer School**
- Dates: July 21-27, 2024
- Location: Forgandenny, Scotland
- Eligibility: Unknown
- Application Due: TBD
- Dates: June 11-15, 2024
- Location: Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
- Eligibility: High School and College-Aged Students
- Application Due: April 1, 2024
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