Concordia Conservatory Campers Kick Off Annual Festival at Sommer Center

The students and instructors of the Concordia Conservatory of Music and Art kicked off the annual two-day Summer Music Festival Wednesday evening at the Sommer Center.

Relatives cheered wildly as the chamber music, musical theatre and guitar camp groups took the stage and paid tribute to Dvorak, Bach, and even the Rolling Stones. The event marks the climax of the Conservatory's summer camp programs.

The festival consists of three performances per evening and an art display in which 80 Concordia Conservatory campers perform for over 500 spectators. Ten-minute interludes are allotted between performances where students and their families socialize over bite-sized grilled cheese sandwiches, curry chicken hors d'oeuvres and lemonade.

"The summer festival is important as it gives the campers a culminating experience of their music-making and visual arts studies," said Executive Director Kathleen Suss. "It's a great opportunity for individuals who love music and the visual arts to spend three to four weeks working and exploring their art form exclusively, then have a venue to show off their progress."

The Concordia Conservatory has offered music programs for curious students of all ages since 1977. In May 2010, the Conservatory merged with the Art at Concordia program to become the Concordia Conservatory of Music & Art, making this the first summer to include two three-week art sessions in conjunction with the customary four-week musical camp programs. 

The art display is not the only surprise at this year's Summer Music Festival. Musical Theatre Workshop Instructor Matt Van Brink compiled ideas generated by elementary and middle school students to create Members Only and Get Real respectively, two original musicals penned exclusively for the campers. 

Suss welcomed the families and friends of the talented young instrumentalists inside the chapel before the chamber music group initiated Wednesday night's festivities. She also charismatically introduced the performance of Get Real, an ode to juvenile creativity, and energized the crowd prior to the Guitar Jam, where David Veslocki's students proved red-blooded American electric guitar chops can hang alongside European classics. 

Many attendees were impressed by the children's accomplishments in just a few short weeks.

"At first I didn't know what to expect because the groups are so small and the camp's duration is such a short period of time," said the mother of budding young cello player and Get Real male lead Nick Politi. "It was just perfect, and they're honestly having fun."

Parents also credited the instructors for inspiring their children. The 11-year old Politi intends to scribe plays and compose original cello solos partly due to the guidance offered by Van Brink and Chamber Music Coordinator Annette Espada. 

"I think the program is wonderful, and the instructors are great," said the parents of Get Real performer Sojourner Wright. "It really brings the best out of them." Their other daughter, pianist SaRai, is scheduled to perform on Thursday night with the Piano Camp. 

The Conservatory summer camp also aims to impart a sense of community within its students. Following the Summer Music Festival, campers will perform at various nursing homes, including the Sunrise Facility for Assisted Living in Mount Vernon and the Fountains at RiverVue in Tuckahoe.

Suss quipped that although most performers would replicate their Music Festival renditions, the Guitar Jam students were instructed to leave the electric guitars at home for fear of riling up the elders.

"The summer affords us that wonderful time to be creative and focused," said Suss. This spirit is embodied in the refrain of Get Real's concluding number: "Imagine a play, imagine a way." Its characters imagine a way to quell boredom, bolster friendships and express emotions via playwriting, thereby immortalizing a creative sentiment sometimes forgotten among the older generations, resulting in a nostalgic and uplifting experience for those in attendance. 

The second part of the Concordia Conservatory Summer Music Festival begins Thursday, July 22nd at 6:00 PM at the Sommer Center.