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I've attended SummerKeys a few times and highly recommend it. Lubec is quaint, cool in the summer, quiet and peaceful. The only problem is getting there if you don't drive. It's WAY up the coast of Maine on the Bay of Fundy.

The school is great. There were events almost every evening: a home cooked dinner-social, concert in nearby Machias, recital, evening out at a restaurant.

It's fun walking around Lubec to go from one practice venue to the other. Several pianos are in church halls and there are a number of pianos in SummerKey's studios as well. The quality of the pianos ranges from not-so-great to really good.

Pianist magazine had a recent issue featuring piano camps in the UK. Here's the link.

http://www.pianistmagazine.com/backissues.htm

It is under issue no. 35. You have buy it to view all of the camps mentioned. I would list them here but there were a whole bunch featured.

I thought about camps overseas but figured that between the jet lag and different terminology (crochets, hemisemidemiquavers), I wouldn't get as much done.

Last February I spent a week here:

http://www.statiaplantation.com/

It's in the Netherland Antilles in the Caribbean. I'm not sure of the current status, though. In the last e-mail I exchanged with Rosamond Van Der Lind, she said that they had experienced tremors from the Quill, the supposedly extinct volcano. And her house is on the slope of the Quill.

Do any of these camps have family programs? They sound great, but with all the travel I do for business, the last thing I want to do is spend a week away from my family for fun.

Soleil_nuage - thanks for the link.

I've ordered issue 35.

Bernard, I leave on Saturday (driving)- Can't wait! Did you go alone? I'm not travelling with anyone and have been wondering if most people have companions with them.

Yeah, Sandy! Enjoy the experience. It's real down-to-earth fun.

Yes I went alone. I took a bus from NYC to Portland, ME (I believe Amtrak now runs that route too), another bus from Portland to Bangor and had a driver from Lubec pick me up in Bangor and drive me the 2.5 hours to Lubec! The whole trips took, as I recall, 9-10 hours. It was nice though; I did some reading, enjoyed the scenery and listened to music.

When I went most of the participants were there alone. Oh, it was a fun bunch. We had a woman from DC who was once a supernumerary at the opera down there--she was loads of fun. There was a wonderful lady from Florida, a few people from NYC, another lady from out west. Just fun. Fun, fun, fun.

Enjoy. I'll be thinking of you up there enjoying those cool evenings.

The first year I went I stayed at the Homeport Inn and had some reasonably good food there (their Coquille St. Jacques was nice). You might check out their menu... The Homeport Inn

I also stayed at Bay Views B&B one year. It is owned and operated by a woman who lives here in Brooklyn. (Small world: I stayed the week up there and found out that my Alexander Technique teacher used to rent from this woman in Brooklyn!)

Hey there,
With all this talk about piano camps, perhaps you should also be aware of this one:
"Rami's Rhapsody Piano Camp for Adults".
Rami, an international concert pianist, used to teach at Sonata and then opened his own camp.
Best to all,
Rami

I am anxiously awaiting Sandy Moore's return from SummerKeys so she can tell me whether to start saving my pennies so I can go next year. Sandy, are you back yet?

Nancy

I think she said she was starting yesterday.

Hi all,

It's Sandy and I'm back! It was amazing!!! so much to process... I'll be going every year for sure! I'm at work right now but am taking a few minutes here and there to write a review... I'll post this evening!

Man, Sandy--now you have me on edge waiting to hear the details! Glad it was so great.

Nancy