MCLA to offer summer music camp
NORTH ADAMS – Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) next month will offer a summer music camp for middle and high school students to explore various aspects of music performance with international and local top performing artists, as well as with local music teachers. Held August 11 to 15 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in MCLA’s Church Street Center, the camp will feature instructors Marie McMarrow and Keith Kibler.McMarrow is a lyric soprano who has performed with many orchestras and ensembles including the Jamaica Philharmonic Orchestra, the San Louis Orchestra of Argentina and the Tubingen Orchestra of Germany. In 1993 and 1994, McMarrow won the Jamaica Music Industry Awards for best female vocalist for classical and chamber music.
Since making his national debuts with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Boston Symphony under Seiji Ozawa, Kibler has appeared with every major orchestral and choral organization in New England, and has sung leading roles internationally. Twice a Fellow of the Tanglewood Music Center, Kibler is one of the region’s most sought after teachers, with students accepted at the New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School, Peabody and Hartt conservatories, the Tanglewood Institute, and the Aspen Music School.
Other instructors will include local pianist Scott Bailey and Peter Yuri Breykin, solo pianist, harpsichordist and classical accompanist for numerous area orchestras, groups, soloists and jazz ensembles. The music camp will give students an opportunity to participate in a variety of musical activities, including chorus and master classes in which all students participate to explore songs in the style of composers Johann S. Bach, W.A.Mozart, Bob Marley and Duke Ellington. In poster and aural training, students will learn exercises to gain an appreciation of the use of the body for proper singing. In addition, they will explore various scales and rhythmic exercises and learn how to write them in music notation classes and using the computer. And, led by a local physics teacher, students will examine aspects of sound creation.
Other activities will include keyboard appreciation training – to enhance existing skills or for the beginner, time in the computer lab to research composers for a final project presentation – and an end-of-camp concert where students and faculty will present to the public at large two hours of performance and presentations.
Offered through MCLA’s Office of Continuing Education, the cost of the camp is $550 per student. A non-refundable fee of $75 is required at the time of registration. For more information, call 413-662-5543.
