Camps and workshops
Camps in New England for Teens
New England Teen Residential Camp
Western Massachusetts
June 29-July 8, 2012 (9 days)
Larry Gordon, Mary Cay Brass & Danny Wallenberg
This is our nine-day camp, especially geared for teenagers new to Village Harmony, as well as for those who can't commit three weeks to a traveling camp. Led by a team of three of Village Harmony's most dynamic leaders. VH founder Larry Gordon will lead a selection of American shape-note songs, some early music with instruments, and a set of South African dance songs. Mary Cay Brass, a teacher since Village Harmony's early days, will teach village and urban songs of the Balkans, with a focus on Bosnia. And Danny Wahlenberg, a long-time conductor at Chicago Children's Choir but new to Village Harmony this summer, will teach from his eclectic world music repertoire. Be prepared for lots of dancing and opportunities for instrumentalists this session!
The nine-day session will culminate with Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon concert performances.z
Rehearsal week at Stump Sprouts retreat center in western Massachusetts
$750
Leaders
LARRY GORDON has been making community music in Vermont since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in New England shape-note singing. Larry is an inspired organizer with an unerring eye for good repertoire and a unique knack of pulling together interesting combinations of singers and letting them shine. His patient and relaxed, yet demanding, teaching style and collaborative approach have shaped the welcoming atmosphere of the Village Harmony community since the beginning. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading stunning periodic adhoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers.
MARY CAY BRASS of Putney, VT Mary Cay Brass is a veteran of the early days of VH. She directs several community choirs in Vermont and Massachusetts and is the co-musical director of Hallowell Hospice Choir. Mary Cay is also a highly-sought after contra-dance keyboardist and accordion player. She spent two and a half years in the former Yugoslavia on a Fulbright Scholarship in ethnomusicology. She has published two book/CD collections of music from that region. This will be the second year in a row that Mary Cay has led the camp in Macedonia. She has also led two very successful Village Harmony camps in Bosnia.
DANNY WALLENBERG
has been a conductor at the Chicago Children’s Choir since 1993 and has worked with every level of the choir from the In-school to the Concert Choir. Currently he is the conductor of the Rogers Park and Humboldt Park Neighborhood Choirs. Mr. Wallenberg is also on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago where he conducts the Music Institute Chorale. He is the director of choirs at the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation and is the artistic director of "Zemer Am", the Chicago Jewish Choral Festival. A native of Bogotá Colombia. Mr. Wallenberg’s degrees in choral conducting are from the Rubin Academy of Music, Jerusalem and Brigham Young University. In Israel Mr. Wallenberg founded several adult and children’s choirs, and sang with the professional choir The Cameran Singers. He has conducted choral groups throughout the world and has many choral arrangements to his name.
Stump Sprouts Retreat Center
West Hawley, Massachusetts
Situated in rural northwest Massachusetts, Stump Sprouts is a rustic multi-season resort and retreat facility. The center of activity is our hand crafted guest lodge, converted dairy barn, and 200 year old farmhouse. Located on 450 acres of woods and meadows, featuring splendid vistas and hiking trails, and organic gardens that will provide vegetables for the kitchen, these unspoiled lands set the stage for two Village Harmony teen retreats this year.