Stephanie Price / December 16, 2014 / Read the article on Musicovation here.
About the Caroga Lake Music Festival:
Inspired by the serene, beautiful area and inviting community of Caroga Lake, NY, cellist Kyle Barrett Price founded the Caroga Lake Music Festival (CLMF) in 2012 at the age of 19. Now in its 4th season, 22-year-old Kyle has developed CLMF into a noteworthy national music festival.
Each August, the program as a whole features artists, typically aged 18-30 in addition to guest artists, performing the great chamber music and string orchestra repertoire from classical to contemporary. A significant part of the CLMF mission is to increase the accessibility of chamber music and spread its joy throughout the Adirondack/Hudson Valley region. This past year we performed multiple concerts at Caroga Chapel, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Wells Nursing Home, Vrooman’s Inn (a classical revolution project), St. John’s Episcopal Church – Johnstown, and St. John Divine Cathedral (NYC.) The local community and audiences from all over the country have embraced our performances and a large fan base was developed in this small town of upstate NY. We have had more than 180 people sell out ourfinal concerts in the quaint Caroga Chapel. Through our performances, we have also met Yo-Yo Ma, Keith Lockhart, David Finckel, Wu Han and members of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
CLMF instrumentalists hail from the world’s top conservatories and music schools including Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, Cleveland Institute, New England Conservatory, Eastman School, Manhattan School of Music, Rice Shepherd School, San Francisco Conservatory, Yale School of Music, and University of Maryland. In the 2014 season, Annie Fullard, faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and Mei-Hsuan Huang, faculty at Iowa State University, performed as members of CLMF. CLMF also headlined vocal artists, Alyson Stoner (actor, singer/songwriter, and dancer) famous for Step Up, Phineas and Ferb, Cheaper by the Dozen, Camp Rock and various Disney Channel shows/movies, Hannah Fentriss (singer/songwriter and dancer) as well as Cara Samantha (NYC and American Idol) this past August. CLMF artists have appeared on NPR’s From the Top and won various prizes at international solo and chamber music competitions.
Origins of the Festival:
Kyle Price, a resident of Worthington, Ohio, has vacationed with his family at the Caroga Lake, NY house of his Grandmother (Joyce Barrett) since he was an infant. He often mentioned that it would be great to have a chamber music festival in the area and the idea became a reality in the summer of 2012. In its fourth season, the festival has continued to evolve in numbers, popularity and genres. Many residents around Caroga Lake have generously opened their space to our artists and are treated with a house concert in return.
The Setting:
Caroga Lake is a connected twin lake (East and West) in the town of Caroga, CLMF is located on West Caroga Lake. Our artists are encouraged to utilize the wonderful Adirondack scenery and lakeside living as a retreat like atmosphere to inspire creativity and cultivate a fresh and rejuvenated approach to performance.
Many of the artists enjoy kayaking, fishing, swimming, sitting out by the lake or enjoying the festival boat, which is a popular item at CLMF. We also enjoy playing card games at night, improvising frequently and playing “bag toss” a game famous in Kyle’s home state of Ohio. The mixture of the mountains, lake and playing great chamber music with friends for eager audiences is truly an unforgettable experience.
A note from the Founder & Artistic Director, Kyle Price:
The process of creating chamber music instills an interest to collaborate as independent thinkers, striving to understand, communicate and compromise productively through the diplomatic medium. Through this model, we can encourage individuals to conceptualize an idea with a goal for the betterment of humanity. Through my establishment of the Caroga Lake Music Festival, I have sought to construct a supportive and creative community with a focus on passion-led education and collaboration.
Website: carogalakemusicfestival.org
Facebook: facebook.com/carogalakemusicfestival
Email: carogalakemusic@gmail.com
Articles on the Caroga Lake Music Festival are also available online from the Leader Herald, Schenectady Gazette,Cleveland Institute of Music Notes and various blogs.
About Kyle:
Kyle Price, founder and artistic director of the Caroga Lake Music Festival, is a recent summa cum laude graduate from the Cleveland Institute of Music receiving a Bachelor of Music degree in cello performance under the tutelage of Merry Peckham of the Cavani String Quartet. He has recorded with Disney star Alyson Stoner for her single, Almost Home, and can be seen playing cello in the 2007 Terry George film, Reservation Road. As a composer, Kyle has received acclaim for his composition Requiem in memory of his aunt, cellist Constance E. Barrett. The Requiem was premiered at the Cleveland Institute of Music and was also featured at the National Summer Cello Institute and the 2014 Caroga Lake Music Festival. Kyle currently attends the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a Collins Fellow pursuing a Master of Music in cello performance under the mentorship of Uri Vardi.