By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
Fifty-two years ago, aspiring director and musician Robert Boudreau got tired of waiting for his ship to come in and took matters into his own hands. He began construction of the 195-foot-long, 38-foot-wide, floating musical performance theater “Point CounterPoint II” and has sailed to coastal venues throughout the world. South Portland’s Bug Light park is on this year’s list of visits, and on July 2 the American Wind Symphony Orchestra will perform on Maine waters for the first time ever.
“I had graduated from Juilliard, and all of my musician friends had trouble finding places to play,” he said. “I thought it would be nice to create an opportunity.”
Starting from scratch, Boudreau began construction on the double-hulled steel barge in 1956 in Norfolk, Va. Steel sheet metal eventually evolved into a self-powered barge with an spherical roof that unfolds into a full sized concert hall with it’s own sound system – the only stage of its kind in the world, Boudreau said.
“We have musicians from all over the world,” he said. “It’s a chance for them to get a start.”
Since striking that first welding arc, Boudreau has directed performances in Russia, France, England and Ireland.
“Maine is a wonderful place,” he said. “I’ve been there several times, but not with the orchestra.”
While the musicians travel via van, airplane and sometimes other water vessels, Boudreau and his wife usually stay onboard during the travel, for which they have a separate crew and another captain to help maneuver the large vessel across oceans and navigate rivers including the east coast’s Inner Coastal Waterway. When they’re not traveling by boat, Boudreau performs at a land-based concert hall on a farm in Pennsylvania.
Boudreau said he and his wife earned their captain licenses by “learning on the job.” He said he plans to motor the barge – which draws close to seven feet of water – up the Kennebec River to Gardiner while they are in Maine.
Carol Jumper, a Falmouth native about to enter her senior year at Ithaca College in New York is one of the musicians who follows “Point CounterPoint II” along the coast. Twenty-one-year-old Jumper – who has played the trumpet since sixth grade – said she began practicing with the American Wind Symphony Orchestra just last week. 
“My trumpet teacher told me about it, so I sent in a CD and made the audition,” she said. “[Boudreau] has contacts he calls up when he needs players; there are a lot of musicians from Texas and there are some from Japan, Romania and Puerto Rico.”
While performing “on the run” can be stressful, Jumper said it’s exciting to work with other musicians, including Boudreau.
“He is really knowledgeable and a good conductor,” she said. “It’s different, it’s fun and the music’s cool.”
Jumper is the only Mainer in the group, and said she’s looking forward to staying at her family’s home in Falmouth while the group performs in state.
“I know I live there, but I’m psyched and a lot of other people haven’t ever been to Maine,” she said.
The show in South Portland’s Bug Light Park is scheduled for July 2 at 7:30 p.m., after which the barge will travel to Portland Yacht Services in Portland to perform July 4 at 7:30 p.m., then to Gardiner from July 5 to 13 and finally to the University of New England in Biddeford from July 14 to 18.