Summer Music in Strasbourg is a unique program combining music history and performance with visits to historic sites connected to the music under study. Situated on the Rhine River on the eastern border of France in the Alsace-Lorraine region, Strasbourg is within a few hours’ travel of Mainz, Mannheim, and Heidelberg (Germany); Basel (Switzerland); and a former concentration camp at Natzweiler-Struthof (France). From their home base at the Château de Pourtalès, students take day excursions to these locations, investigate the historical context of pieces of music with connections to the various sites, prepare and perform them in an intensive rehearsal process, and receive coachings and hear lectures by professors of music at conservatories and universities in the area. Legacies of competing cultural identities, religious strife, and colonialism are important themes. The three-week program begins with an intensive introduction in Paris and concludes with final performances in an Alsatian village church and at the Château de Pourtalès.