Building Young Artists and Audiences of the Future
Elizabeth Pitcairn,
CEO and Artistic Director
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 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.
Archive
GLEN INANGA
LMC starts lifelong journey
MAYA SHIH
Alumna shares love of music with family
ANGELA HUANG
A retreat in the
beautiful woods
ZLATOMIR FUNG
LMC alumnus awarded Avery Fisher grant
CHRIS PELL
A home in music
ELLEN ZENTNER
Life-changing lessons
Notable Alumni
In the News
The Ahn Piano Trio
Zlatomir Fung, The Juilliard School under
the tutelage of Richard Aaron and
Timothy Eddy
Beth Graham, horn, Baltimore Symphony,
Warsaw Philharmonic
Jennifer Haas, first violin,
The Philadelphia Orchestra
Sylvia Kim, principal second,
Chicago Symphony
Christopher Pell, principal clarinet,
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Elizabeth Pitcairn, violin soloist
Gareth Zehngut, viola, Minnesota Orchestra
Glen Inanga, pianist,
Cayman Arts Festival co-founder
Sep. 24, 2022
13-year-old pianist Olivia Ajero performs Frédéric Chopin’s Étude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 10, No. 4 also known as the “Torrent Étude”.
Sep. 26, 2022
17-year-old Guido Felipe Sant'Anna e Silva was awarded 1st Prize at the 2022 Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition
Feb. 2022
Meet the February 2022 WMHT-FM Classical Student Musician of the Month: Charlie Beauregard (bassoon).
