CMW x Avaloch Fall Foliage Chamber Music Retreat

About the Workshop

The Chamber Music Workshop of the Composers Conference is collaborating with Avaloch Farm Music Institute to offer the very first Fall Foliage Chamber Music Retreat! Come join us for a long weekend of informal sightreading during peak fall foliage season. It takes place in beautiful Boscawen, New Hampshire– near the Appalachian Mountains and the Atlantic coastline. Space is limited to 30 musicians, including mixed strings, winds and piano. Adult amateurs and professionals (over 18) are welcome to attend.

The retreat is an opportunity for several days of social, informal chamber music sightreading over the course of a weekend. The goal is to help recharge the soul and rekindle the joy of music making together. THIS IS NOT A WORKSHOP! All playing is informal– there are no scheduled lessons or coachings– and one must be comfortable with sight-reading! We will provide some music from our CMW library, but you should plan on bringing repertoire you would like to read. The full complement of instruments will be provided to you ahead of time for planning. A post-dinner chamber music concert by select CMW faculty will be offered on one evening.

Spouses/partners/friends are also welcome to attend and share your room to make it a family weekend holiday. If they do not wish to play or listen to sightreading sessions all day, there are plenty of additional activities to take part in, including morning yoga sessions, hiking opportunities (during peak fall foliage time!), canoeing and apple picking on the grounds of Avaloch, perusing New Hampshire’s famous Antique Alley (New England’s oldest antiques shopping district), or exploring the local quaint towns such as Concord and Manchester.

Avaloch Farm Music Institute was founded by dedicated arts philanthropist Alfred Tauber, with the goal of providing professional musicians with unique creative residency opportunities, while simultaneously enriching the cultural landscape of the surrounding Boscawen community. The facilities are unique and unparalleled, and specially designed to accommodate musicians. In addition to 30 modernly furnished hotel-like bedrooms (set up in suites of 2 or 4 with common spaces, kitchenettes and bathrooms) there are also a total of 19 rehearsal spaces that range from accommodating 3-18 people for ensemble playing. There are 6 grand pianos, 1 upright piano and 3 electronic keyboards. For the retreat, all meals will be catered and prepared on-site by a professional chef and kitchen staff, featuring local New England sourced ingredients.

Additional amenities onsite include blueberry picking (summer), apple orchard picking (fall), canoeing and boating on the adjacent lake, and a recreation room to relax or enjoy a game of pool or ping pong. Within 20 minutes drive from Avaloch, there are multiple hiking opportunities, as well as the famous Antique Alley on Route 4. Both Concord and Manchester NH are located close by, and the coastal town of Portsmouth is under an hour away.

The entire weekend, including all lodging (3 nights) and all meals (8 meals, starting with dinner on Thursday night and ending with brunch on Sunday at noon) is $550. If your partner/spouse/friend wishes to share a room with you (there is one queen sized bed in each room), they may do so for an additional $100 to help defray the additional food costs.

Every dollar goes towards running the facilities at Avaloch (food, lodging, housekeeping/grounds/kitchen staff.) No profit is made by the Composers Conference.

Please visit https://avalochfarmmusic.org/fall-foliage-chamber-music-retreat/ in order to learn more, and to sign up for the retreat!

Hope to see you there!

Jessica Tong for the CMW of the Composers Conference and Ashley Bathgate for Avaloch Farm Music Institute