Teen Traveling Camp II
July 10- August 2, 2026
Leaders: Lysander Jaffe, Liam Kantor & Lexi Ugelow
Rehearsal location: Stump Sprouts Lodge, Hawley, MA
Price: $1900.
Need-based financial aid is available for this camp. You'll need to apply first and pay your deposit. Should we not be able to make the finances work for you, you may withdraw your registration with a full refund.
Village Harmony’s 17 day-long teen traveling camps are open to young singers ages 12 to 18. Auditions aren’t required to attend our camps. If you like singing full force and galumphing about the countryside performing for appreciative audiences, these summer camps are for you.
This session will be led by Village Harmony/Northern Harmony alumni Lysander Jaffe, Lexi Ugelow and Liam Kantor.
Like all VH teen camps, we will begin with a week of rehearsal in residence at a retreat center. This summer’s program will be held at one of our favorites—Stump Sprouts Retreat in Hawley, western Massachusetts.
Repertoire will include traditional polyphonic songs from around the world. Instrument players are especially encouraged to join this group. The rehearsal week will be followed by a 10-day New England performance tour.
Meet the leaders
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Lysander Jaffe
Lysander Jaffe is a singer, violist and co-artistic Director of Palaver Strings, a chamber orchestra and nonprofit based in Portland, ME. He is also a founding member of Culomba, a genre-defying new vocal ensemble based in Boston. A devoted student of traditional music, he has studied with master musicians in Bulgaria, Kosovo, Greece, Corsica, and Georgia. In 2017, he appeared as a soloist with the Cambridge Revels in Sanders Theatre. In 2018, he was awarded an Apprenticeship Grant in Traditional Arts from the Massachusetts Cultural Council to support his studies of the unique violin tradition of Epirus, Greece.
As a teacher, Lysander is passionate about broadening the cultural horizons of students of all backgrounds. He has taught world polyphony styles for Village Harmony since 2013 and has toured Europe several times with its professional ensemble, Northern Harmony. In 2020 he graduated from the New England Conservatory with a Masters in Contemporary Improvisation.
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Lexi Ugelow
Lexi is a vocalist, songwriter, expressive arts workshop and music education facilitator based in Cambridge, MA. She is a life long learner and lover of intergenerational community singing. A professional vocalist and self produced songwriter, Lexi has toured with groups such as Northern Harmony, Culomba, Honey & Soul and Road Dogs, performing and teaching workshops to adults and children.
Though her interests and experience with music spans from funk, to world folk music, you can be always be sure to expect some buttery harmonies. A firm believer that our bodies are our instruments, she encourages the practice of non-judgement during exploration of musical play.
Moving into her fifth year as co-music director for Sing Positive, Lexi continues to use music as a way to help others build community, confidence and self expression.
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Liam Kantor
Liam Kantor is a vocalist and instrumentalist based in Evanston, IL. From an early age, he was steeped in the world of traditional music, learning fiddle tunes and folk dances from his teachers and family alike. During the pandemic, he spent a year in Marshfield, VT, working with Village Harmony, to organize workshops and perform online concerts with Northern Harmony.
Currently pursuing a degree in ethnomusicology, Liam's musical interests span a wide range of traditional folk styles from around the world with a focus on New England-style and Celtic fiddle music and traditional ballads of those regions.
Liam has a particular passion for finding ways to bring people into community through art and, particularly those who might not think to find connection through art. Thus, drawn to community-based musical traditions, he finds himself most at home singing in choirs, playing in jam sessions, and trading songs around campfires.
“Actually learning music from throughout the world shows you so many drop-dead-gorgeous singing traditions, exposes you to music that moves you down to the very marrow... and it makes you exercise so many different ways of singing that you start to figure out the ways that work best, not just the ways that you’ve always done it. It’s sort of like feeding the addiction you never knew you had--for the chocolate that nobody else has discovered yet.”
- Teen camp participant
Stump Sprouts - Hawley, MA
Hand-built and furnished almost entirely with wood harvested from our land, the Lodge has seven guest rooms, a large living room and a complete kitchen and dining room. Everywhere there are large windows taking in the magnificent view. Lofts, cozy nooks, art work, plants, and a fireplace.
Not exactly a hotel, motel or B&B, Stump Sprouts is in a unique category of its own. In keeping with the owners’ simple philosophy, overnight guests share bathrooms and bring their own sheets, blankets, pillows & towels (there will be a limited number of sets for rent if you cannot do this for some reason).
All rooms have a double bed in them and most have a single or bunk bed as well. Rooms are decorated with original art, barn board, old farm implements, etc.
Village Harmony’s rehearsal space will be in a beautifully refinished barn, with superb cross-ventilation and large windows looking out over a gorgeous mountainscape.