About
Chamberre is an un-coached program for amateur and professional musicians to read through a wide variety of chamber music. This differs significantly from other adult chamber music workshops, which typically emphasize arriving with prepared works for further coaching instruction. Nonetheless, there are optional performance opportunities at the Sunday afternoon concert for chamber groups and the camp orchestra.
Besides being un-coached, Chamberre is unique in offering different lengths of stays, to best match your schedule (and endurance!). You may participate for as short as one day, or for the full length of the program.
25% Discount for First-Time Participants!
If you are a first-time participant, we will take 25% off the total price calculated in the Application Form when we send you our invoice.
Dates
Chamberre will be held beginning Wednesday afternoon, July 17, 2024 through Sunday evening, July 21, 2024. Those participants staying through dinner Sunday may stay overnight in their cabins for no extra charge and leave Monday morning, July 22, 2024, although Monday breakfast will not be served. Check out time is 9:00 A.M.
History
Chamberre began in 1957 as a collaboration between Eugene Hilligoss (1916-1981), cellist and professor of music at the University of Colorado (Boulder), and Beth Miller Harrod (1910-1999), pianist, teacher, and founder of Rocky Ridge Music Center, later incorporated as the non-profit Rocky Ridge Music Center Foundation.
Gene discovered that different musicians, many of whom might not have played together before, each derive a unique benefit from having to work out the cooperative interaction necessary to play chamber music. Accordingly, Gene devised a system of rotating players into one-time groups for each playing time slot. Chamberre continues this tradition, now using computerized assignments and tracking of who has played with whom to maximize the number of different people you meet and play with.
Chamberre Today
While participation in the rotation system had been required in Gene’s day, it is now optional, although we strongly urge you to join in. Only half of the sessions are organized like this anyway, the other half being free for you to form your own pickup group, or hike, read, nap, or just have good conversation with new and old friends over great food. There is a concert Sunday, the last day, featuring chamber groups followed by the camp’s orchestra. Participation in either is likewise optional.
Chamberre accepts violin, viola, cello, string bass (2 string bass players maximum, open until filled), and piano (4 players maximum, open until filled). We also accept winds, one each of flute, oboe, and clarinet, open until filled. Additional wind players and any instrumentalists in any combination are welcome if in preformed groups, who will usually play in their groups during assigned sessions, but not necessarily, if they can be worked into combinations of the other available musicians. Any pianists in your group will count toward the total number of 4 pianists we can accommodate.
All interested musicians are encouraged to apply. Because of the un-coached format of Chamberre, we may contact first-time applicants prior to acceptance in order to make sure their musical background will lead to an enjoyable and fulfilling experience.
Although you will play with musicians having a range of skill levels, we are confident that if you play or have played in an orchestra, or play or have played chamber music, you will find Chamberre to be productive and enriching.
Venue
Chamberre will be hosted again at Rocky Ridge Music (the new, shortened name, abbreviated as RRM), originally built as the Hewes-Kirkwood Inn. The earliest parts date from 1907, and were made from dead standing trees killed in the high winds and a 1900 fire. The property was acquired by Beth Miller Harrod, the founder of Rocky Ridge Music Center, in 1951.
Check out RRM’s current program offerings for students and young professionals at www.rockyridge.org
The facilities include the Lodge, the Dining Hall which doubles as the Concert Hall, individual cabins (some with bathrooms for an additional $150 fee — for the cabin, not per person), and separate men’s and women’s bathhouses. Each cabin accommodates from 2 to 4 people, with only beds and mattresses provided. Bedding and towels can be provided, which must be returned, for an additional $75 fee per person. All cabins have electricity and space heaters. Buffet style meals are served at communal meal times in the Dining Hall. When used as the Concert Hall, it can stage a chamber orchestra and seat an audience of 100 people.
Due to a schedule change, Chamberre occurs in a gap between RRM’s programs that is open in July. Food service will thus be provided by RRM staff, who would otherwise have to take time off during this week. This has resulted in Chamberre’s prices to decrease for everything except the $150 fee for cabins with bathrooms. These changes are not likely to persist after this year.
RRM has graciously made their extensive chamber music library available. Many players generously bring their own collections to share.
Location
The Rocky Ridge Music facility is located in a lodgepole pine forest near the base of Longs Peak, just east of Rocky Mountain National Park. Its address is:
Rocky Ridge Music
465 Longs Peak Road
Estes Park CO 80517
