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Just before crossing the south-western tip of Lake Harrington, on route 327 north in the Quebec Laurentians region, the crossroads is there, easy to miss. It’s Cammac Road, which leads to the music camp of the same name. You may never have heard of it, but it’s been lighting up amateur musical hearts for over 70 years. Cammac Music Camp was founded in 1953 by brothers Carl and Everett Little with the mission of providing summer training for amateur musicians of all ages. Today, every of the eight weeks of the summer season (residencies last seven days), around thirty children and sometimes as many as 80 adults can stay there at the same time. Some sing, others play an instrument. Single adults, couples and even whole families come here to benefit from the teaching of experienced teachers and renowned professional artists, such as flutist and musical director Francis Colpron, soprano Jacqueline Woodley, baritone Julien Patenaude, flutist Vincent Lauzer, violinist Olivier Breault, conductor Julien Proulx, cellist Noémie Raymond, jazz bassist Adrian Vedady, pianist Kate Wyatt, harpist Anabelle Renzo, harpsichordist Geneviève Soly, and many more…
Even John Rutter
Artistic director Guylaine Lemaire told me that some summers, visiting international artists are invited to spend some time here. Imagine being an amateur chorister and getting a few tips from… John Rutter! It’s happened. There was also the Gesualdo Six vocal ensemble. ‘’The boys took the opportunity to do some very Canadian things, with canoe trips on the big lake, right there. They got their money’s worth, as they capsized and got very wet!’’ No need to rub it in, let’s not add insult to injury, haha. Because, you know, what happens at Cammac stays at Cammac.
There are also themed weeks, such as early music week, chamber music week, jazz week and so on. The summer music camp runs for eight weeks, which of course makes it the busiest season of the year, but weekends and activity weeks are also available occasionally during the rest of the year (for spring break, Thanksgiving weekend, a Bach+ weekend in May, etc.).
Related activities include hiking, canoeing (on nearby Great Lake MacDonald, which gave trouble to the guys from gesualdo Six), yoga and more. Some people rent rooms, while others set up on a piece of land with just their camping gear (cheaper, of course). Participants can opt for a package including meals, or make do with their own food and picnics. There are plenty of ways to spend the week.
Sunday pro concerts
Summer is also a great time to organise a series of concerts called Musical Sundays. It was during one of these concerts that I visited Cammac for the first time. There are regulars, of course, but Guylaine Lemaire told me that there are quite a few newcomers, over 20% this year. And the number of requests has been rising in recent years. ‘’It’s funny, because I meet local people who don’t even know the camp exists, and at the same time we’re starting to turn down applications because we’re full some weeks. We’re not very well known, but word of mouth works well for us’’.
Musical Sundays take place in the concert hall built in 2006 on the site of the old building that used to host events, but which had aged quite a bit. The current hall is quite simple, adjoining the reception desk, the cafeteria and the kitchen (which serves brunch after the concert, depending on the package you choose). Square, with large windows overlooking the lake, the sound is pleasant and adequately reverberant for small ensembles or solo performances. I was there for the Quartom male vocal quartet, who gave an eclectic concert ranging from Renaissance songs to Mozart, Leonard Cohen and Gilles Vigneault. The complicity and beauty of the four voices (Julien Patenaude, Philippe Martel, Benoît Leblanc and Joé Lampron-Dandonneau), combined with a touch of friendly humour, is a recipe for success, especially as it is no substitute for the excellent quality of the performance.
Still to come in the Sunday series 2025, if you happen to go by there (an hour and a bit from Montreal): the excellent Quatuor Cobalt, Denis Plante and his bandoneon, Kate Wyatt’s jazz trio with a tribute to Oscar Peterson (very high calibre!), Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat, musical theatre with Marc Djokic, violin, Simon Aldrich, clarinet, Maxim Shatalkin, piano and Peter Duschenes, narration, and then the finale with Les Boréades conducted by Francis Colpron, celebrating their 30th anniversary with English baroque music.
DETAILS OF THE MUSICAL SUNDAYS SERIES
The hall will be fully paid for in 2026, prompting the artistic director to say that after that, other investments will be made, for example to refurbish other buildings in the area (the Lake Lodge, for example, which is next door), where many campers stay. I visited it, and it’s clean and well-maintained, but it shows its age. And with visitor numbers on the rise, the time has come to move up a gear.
All in all, then, this small (but not so small) music camp, the only one of its kind in Canada if I’m not mistaken, is holding its own in the music world, and is even tending to flourish! It’s a shame that it’s still relatively unknown. Let’s try to change things a bit, and make it essential to increase the venue’s capacity! A happy problem to solve for the administrative team.
