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Alumni

Finding a life's love at LMC

When Carrie Davids was 12 years, she called her parents after a two-week stay at Luzerne Music Center and begged them to let her stay the final two weeks of Junior Session. That was the summer she had the realization she wanted to pursue music as a career.

“I’d never spent so much time with people who loved music as much as me,” said Davids, a violist who teaches, plays part time with Rochester Philharmonic, and is a section player for Glens Falls Symphony and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra.

“I thought that having a daily life in music was exactly what I wanted to do the rest of my life.”

Davids attended LMC on a full scholarship, returned the next summer and, starting in 2019, signed on a member of faculty.

“It’s such an interesting experience, to be there and having been a camper,” she said. “It’s great to understand what students are going through.”

While the campus looked the same that summer (she said she can't wait to see the new cabins), Davids noticed a big difference from when she attended camp.

“The level I saw the last time and admissions we went through last summer, the level is much higher than I went as a camper,” she said. “It blew my mind the talent that’s coming through.”

“One of the things that’s so great is that Luzerne is small,” she said. “There are just enough campers to fill an orchestra, so it’s a more intimate setting, with more attention and strong musical experience that larger camps can’t offer.”

Counselor story: Meganne Brenon

Meganne Brenon attended summer music camps as a teen and while she enjoyed them, she never experienced anything like Luzerne Music Center.

As a first-year camp counselor in 2019, Meganne wasn’t sure what she would find at the charming camp on the shores of Lake Luzerne.

“I have no idea what I was expecting, but Luzerne Music Center totally blew it away,” she said. “It was a life-changing experience I wouldn’t give up for the world.”

The 20-year-old flutist is heading into her senior year at SUNY Fredonia, studying music education, so she’s no stranger to working with children or being around music. But LMC still managed to surprise her.

“The way the orchestra just fills up the entire camp with music, it’s amazing,” she said.

And the campers, she said, are as incredible.

“They’re so driven,” she said. “They just love music so much and it’s so inspiring to see that kind of passion at

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such a young age and the happiness they have from making music.”

As a counselor, Meganne oversees a group of four to
eight campers (depending on the session). “We wake them in the morning and at the end of the day 'cabin in,' we settle down and have a nice chat about the day, what to expect the following day

and I always went around the group and had them share their favorite part of the day.”

She helps organize activities to entertain the campers during their down time and provides them support if they need it.

“It’s a really nice connection we’re able to form with our campers,” she said.