Reviews and Letters from Attendees of Seal Bay Festival

Dear Dan and Muneko: Thank you tremendously for your invitation and your warmest hospitality during our unforgettable residency at the 2023 Seal Bay Festival, with the excellent concerts played by Cassatt Quartet (with substitute violist Andy Lin) with guest musicians Guowei Wang (erhu master from New York) and Peter Weitzner (double bass and our wonderful recording engineer), the impressive Show and Tell sessions from which we have learnt so much from you, Dan (you are really our role model and a visionary leader in our contemporary music community), Shirish, and Tony (as well as Vineet who didn't come to Vinalhaven but hosted us in Bowdoin College before the end of our festival this summer), and our four inspiring young fellow composers Maja, Yun, Woody, and Leyou.

We enjoyed so much the demo presentation of the traditional and contemporary music works on the erhu (Chinese fiddles) given by Guowei, and the wonderful introduction of the imaginative artwork collection by the master printmaker Chris Clarke.

We loved spending every minute in Vinalhaven Island, North Haven Island, Brunswick, Belfast, and Portland in the festival, particularly Dan's exciting boat ride given to all of us to see the seal and the sea, and the delicious lobster feast!!!! We were fascinated by the landscape and the beautiful houses on the island with all inspiring stories of the Godsfrey family, and appreciated the warm friendship of Deirdre, Barbara, George, and all other supporters and helpers at the festival.

Thank you, Muneko, you are not only a dynamic and leading violinist, but also a fantastic daily cook! You both have worked extremely hard to make sure all details to go right for the whole time, and, you have made the festival hugely successful!!!! Congratulations to the extraordinary Cassatt Quartet for premiering all five new works and played our Fiddle Suite and Song of the Ch'in, as well as all other compositions fantastically, with carefully recorded documents. We are deeply grateful to you, and will treasure your great support and our friendship forever.

With deep admiration and gratitude,
Chen Yi and Zhou Long

Participating in the Seal Bay Festival is like spending two weeks in Paradise. The incredibly beautiful island is both physically and spiritually apart from the busy world of our regular lives. All of the day is spent with the music that is being created right now, with interludes of community dinners and explorations of land and water. We are all joined in the endeavor to create beautiful and meaningful sounds, and our work is enriched by that of our colleagues. What a joyful experience!

Ursula Oppens

It was such a privilege to participate in the Seal Bay Festival. Right away, I got the sense that this was a festival I would learn a lot from, and leave with memories to last a lifetime. The beautiful island of Vinalhaven, the incredible composers, the concerts, all of it, has left me wanting to go back and relive these experiences again. The one-on-one lessons with the guest composers were enriching, and so too were the moments between the scheduled events. The discussions always went beyond music, and touched on topics that were valuable in the moment. It was a tremendous experience all in all!

Sincerely,
Kristin Kirk

Seal Bay Festival is the warmest and most unique music festival I have ever experienced. I am very grateful for Cassatt String Quartet’s expressive, touching and vivid world premiere of my new work The Incomplete Journey, who increased my passion and confidence to compose more chamber music for strings.
I also appreciate all faculty composers and the composition lessons they offered, which broadened my horizons and provided the ways I could achieve my targets gradually. The most special and memorable thing is the celebration of my birthday on July 13 during the festival! When everyone sang the birthday song for me and I made my wish in front of the birthday cake Cassatt String Quartet baked, I feel so touched and so surprised! In short, I have an excellent experience at Seal Bay Festival. I encourage more composers to apply for this wonderful program.

XinYan Li

Dear Dr. Godfrey,
I hope you are doing well!  I know it's been a while, but this is Jordyn Gallinek, one of the composer fellows from this past summer at the Seal Bay Music Festival.  I wanted to reach out and say thank you again for both your guidance and for hosting me this past summer.  It was an amazing experience, and I am so happy I was given the opportunity to write for such an outstanding group of musicians!
I wanted to let you know that I am going to be attending Juilliard in the fall for my Master's in Music Composition, and I really believe that the Seal Bay Festival helped me get into the program.  I can't thank you enough for my experiences at the Seal Bay Festival, and I hope I will see you again in the future!

Best,
Jordyn Gallinek

Dear Muneko, Jennifer, Ah Ling, Elizabeth, and Dan, Thank you for your wonderful invitation and warm welcome to your magnificent Seal Bay Festival. It was extremely meaningful to me and I am deeply grateful for your marvelous performances of HELIX SPIRALS. The gorgeous setting, with its surrounding landscape and ocean, is literally magical and inspiring. Dan, you and your family spoiled us by opening your estate with such grace, treating us like family! Taking us out on your boat was above and beyond the call of duty and I LOVED it! You all gave to me a totally unforgettable, fun, musically rewarding trip! I remain in your debt! (READ FULL LETTER)

Augusta Read Thomas, July 25, 2017

 
I like the way that Seal Bay Festival provide a platform for all the student and guest composers to meet informally, which we share our musical ideas and experience most of the time as a human but not a composer, since all of us work and live closely with each other. Besides taking private lesson with the world class guest composers, you also have a chance to be inspired by different form of arts like participating in the visual arts workshop and going into the nature. And of course, the stunning scenery of the Marine state is one of the most important things you cannot miss. It is definitely the best way to spend a summer with some amazing composers and performers in this beautiful place.

Lok Hei Alvin Tam, Summer 2017

The Seal Bay Festival Composer Institute is one of the most unique festival experiences I have ever had. Beautiful festival, beautiful people. I enjoyed all my composition lessons and masterclasses with the faculty composers; it was also truly rewarding to work with and get to know the Cassatt String Quartet throughout the festival - such a devoted and passionate group of musicians.  

Alison Yun Fei Jian, Summer 2017