Favorite higher level music camps/festivals?

College Majors Music Major
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I am gathering a list of music camps/festivals to consider in the future and am focusing on higher level, more intense camps. We traveled for one this summer and while it’s nice and she’s having fun and learning, it is not for advanced level music students. She plays piano and violin and prefers chamber music over orchestra. The ones I know of so far are:

Tanglewood
Aspen
Brevard

If you can think of any to add to my list plus have any experience to share on how these were for your child, I’d love to hear from you. Would also love to hear from anyone who was able to get financial aid (particularly merit) for these programs.

Thank you so much!

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Interlochen

They didn’t offer a middle school camp for my son’s instrument, so I took him to an adult one week camp. The facilities were nice. The faculty was wonderful. The location is very pretty.

It’s been a long time. According to some, it may have slipped a notch.

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Walden School, Dublin NH is a different kind of program. Creative kids and musicians as well as those already composing, take classes in a variety of topics, perform some, and every student produces a 10-15 minute composition played by world-renowned instrumentalists. There is also a guest composer, always well-known and helpful. This program is not limited to those who are already composing and can add a different perspective to musical training. My kid loved it.

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Mine attended interlochen, Tanglewood and Brevard. All great experiences and all with some merit aid.

Have heard good things about Idyllwild as well.

There are certain programs that are more well known for strings. Perhaps @TooManyViolinists can chime in?

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How old is she and what camp did she not find the level high enough? We have mentioned Kinhaven in your other thread and Greenwood is a similar program. I do believe that they both have financial aid.

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The ones you have listed are primarily orchestra programs. BUTI (Tanglewood) and Brevard do offer some chamber music, but mostly it will be a lot of orchestra. For a violinist, this is fun, but it cuts into your ability to get practice time in.

I would scratch Aspen. You now need to be 18 to live on campus and play in the orchestra. The only reason to attend as a younger student is if you want to study with a specific teacher. It’s not a real experience for high school students any longer since you have to live off campus with your mom or dad.

If you want a program that is focused more on chamber music and practicing, these are the programs I would recommend, sort of listed from least competitive to most competitive

  • Kinhaven - mostly chamber, some orchestra, nurturing environment
  • Greenwood - very similar to Kinhaven, mostly chamber, some orchestra, almost all kids from Boston/NY
  • Ascent - new program with chamber music, lessons, and practicing
  • Encore (OH) - chamber music, lessons, practicing
  • Meadowmount - my kids’ teacher calls this “practice jail” as that is mostly what you do plus some chamber music
  • Center Stage Strings - nurturing smaller program, chamber music, lessons, practicing
  • Heifetz - chamber music, lessons, practicing, lots of performances (junior and senior programs, with junior being much easier to get into)
  • Morningside Music Bridge - chamber music, lessons, practicing, chamber orchestra, highly international, only takes a small number from US
  • Perlman Music Program - chamber music, lessons, regulated practicing, near impossible to get into on violin unless you are associated with someone there or winning major competitions
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ONLINE SOLO STRINGS INTENSIVE (OSSI), organized by https://stringinsiders.com/, was very beneficial to my son. He had many master lessons with several professors, including the one he will be studying under in college. He attended in two summers, both times concurrently with another program since OSSI is very flexible.
NYO and NYO2 were both fun, and free. No chamber music but he made so many friends from all over the country. The kids form their support system for each other and help the younger ones navigate their growth both musically and academically.
Aspen is mainly for college students. There are several fresh high school graduates over 18 and a handful of younger kids living with parents. My son and a former student of mine are there now having a great time enjoying musical growth and independence.
Regarding scholarship, Interlochen, BUTI, Bowdoin, ENCORE, OSSI, and Aspen all offer some amount of merit-based scholarship, up to full fide (tuition + boarding). The only place he didn’t receive any scholarship was Perlman so I don’t know if there is any for merit-based. Depending on your state of residence, there may be some funding/grant for high school students to improve/pursue artistical skills. It may not be much but is worth exploring.

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My kid attended BUTI, Eastern Music Festival and Aspen, and thought they were all excellent.

Eastern Music Festival has an excellent piano program (and orchestral as well).

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I have heard this and there are some connections between it and Jeffrey Epstein (?) - he donated to the school or camp? I read some reviews that were pretty bad. Run down dorms, no AC anywhere including practice rooms, horrible food.

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She is 13 currently. I would prefer not to mention the other camp as I know the people that run it and would never want them to read anything negative online. They are wonderful people and it’s not horrible, It’s just not an ideal fit. My daughter needs to be with other kids who are as serious as she is about music.

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Thank you so much, this is such helpful info, particularly on Aspen. Did not know about the age requirement change.

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So she is very young, is she a rising 9th grader or 8th grader? Most of the programs we have mentioned have much older kids

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Rising 8th. You bring up my other question: at what age do people start doing these types of festivals? Sounds like maybe we should wait until sophomore year at the earliest? What do we do in the meantime? Are there any that are good for the 13-15y old serious music student?

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Can I ask what age you started doing these programs?

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Thank you so much, this is very helpful. Her violin teacher suggested Aspen and said it would be good for her but maybe she doesn’t know about the age limit change? i’ll have to look into that.

So was OSSI all online? After the Covid/Zoom experience, my daughter absolutely hates online lessons and I fully understand why. I doubt she’d be open to more of that. Your sons experience sounds like it was great though?

She has been thinking about NYO programs. Those also sound really fun.

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Kinhaven and greenwood have junior camps, but this would be her last year, she could definitely apply there next year but would be the youngest and they are rural camps with no technology. NYO and NYO2 travel so not sure that is appropriate for such a young teen.

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13 is so young.
I only know four kids who knew that early that they wanted to be professional musicians.
Two (pianist and violinist) were homeschooled and participated in many competitions since before middle school. I don’t know them well to know what they did in the summer though.
The other two (violinist and cellist) attended local music summer camps in middle school. In high school they attended Bowdoin and NYO for sure, maybe also Heifetz. They also participated in many competitions, local, national, and international.
From the top (https://fromthetop.org/) showcases many classically trained young musicians. Their bios sometimes include information about additional trainings beyond private lessons, may worth exploring too.

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My thought would be to have your daughter research some of these programs (with your help if needed) and then review them with her private teacher for additional input. I love the listing above from @TooManyViolinists as it is violin/string specific.

If her teacher is feeling that she is at a level for acceptance into Aspen at high school age, then it sounds like your daughter needs a very high level program that accepts HS age students.

All of these programs are audition based so she would prepare and submit auditions for them whenever she is ready.

At what age a young musician attends a summer festival/program is really variable based on many factors. I would say you need to consider emotional maturity, musical maturity, independence with general living skills, availability of musical opportunities in the summer without leaving home, finances, etc.

Also, if your daughter is able to audition and is accepted to NYO/YoungArts type programs, those are not only fully funded but can carry some weight on the college/conservatory application. This is at least true for winds and brass players, I stand corrected if it is different for strings.

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My kid did BUTI summer after grade 11 and grade 12. Did EMF summer after freshman year, and sophomore year of college. Aspen after senior year of college.

Went to New England Music Camp (well worth checking out) summers after grades 8, 9 and 10.

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My kids started going after 8th grade. One was newly 14, the other is very young for her year, so still 13. Both did absolutely fine.

The 11-15yo age group is particularly hard for camp. Almost all the programs are geared toward orchestra and very few are serious. Even Interlochen at this age is not particularly high level. Only the oldest division, which starts with sophomores, is considered high level.

Of the programs I listed above, Kinhaven and Greenwood typically place a 13yo in junior division. Junior division is way less serious and level is lower, especially for Kinhaven.

Ascent is officially 14+ but allowed 13yo to apply this year. The kids I know who went were more 15+. This program is new, so I don’t know much about it.

Encore is mostly older kids, though it is officially 13-25. The people I know there were all 15+.

Meadowmount is 13+ and there are usually at least a handful of kids in that age group there.

Center Stage Strings is 12+ and there are always quite a number of 12-14yo. The younger kids are typically very high level.

Heifetz is now putting almost everyone under 15 into the junior program. That program this year was ages 7-15, so quite a spread. There were definitely more kids in the 13-15yo range there this year then in the past. However, I’ve also heard a lot of people complain about the curriculum in the junior program, with the kids not having enough structured activity. Not speaking from experience, though, just reporting. It’s definitely different in character from the senior program.

Morningside and Perlman are both 12+. Everybody is good and serious.

NYO2 and BUTI are 14+. NYO2 has a very definitive age cutoff. BUTI will consider younger kids if and only if there are extra spots open.

I forgot to mention Bowdoin – great program for late high school or college, but I don’t like it for younger kids as it has zero structure.