video reel by Jeannette Fang
Garth Newel hosted its largest ever group of participants during its 2025 Amateur Retreat. Forty-nine amateur musicians from five states and Washington, DC assembled in Herter Hall on Thursday, March 20th to begin a whirlwind of activities which lasted through the weekend. With this record-breaking number of musicians comprising 13 groups, rehearsals and coachings were conducted not only in the Herter Hall complex, but also in 3 bedrooms, 4 living rooms, the musicians’ office, the Manor House library, and off-campus at Roseloe Manor (the gorgeous mansion belonging to Peter Fowler and John Nowland).
Days were filled with rehearsals and coachings by the Garth Newel Piano Quartet (GNPQ) and guest coaches Evelyn Grau (former GNPQ violist), Alan Weinstein (cello professor at Virginia Tech), and Kayla Hanvey (flutist at VCU). Alan also led an entertaining and eye-opening seminar on improvisation, which included challenging exercises meant to hone one’s responsiveness and listening–both of which are essential chamber music skills.
One of the most cherished activities for participants at amateur workshops is sightreading chamber music. Evenings were generally free for musicians to gather and play together, often with music borrowed from Garth Newel’s extensive music library. Since it can be difficult to spontaneously pin down 6-8 musicians to read works for large ensemble, we organized a “facilitated” reading session in which participants could sign up to play sextets and octets together. This year, we chose Mendelssohn’s Piano Sextet (written when he was 15), Gliere’s String Octet, and Mendelssohn’s String Octet. The event also made it possible for musicians from various groups to meet and network with one another.
Another organized sightreading activity was our orchestra “play-in.” Since pianists have so many more notes to play, we notified the pianists of the repertoire a month in advance. This year, we chose Ernest Bloch’s Concerto Grosso No. 1 for strings and piano obbligato. To accommodate our flute participants, we also included Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 for flute, violin, and orchestra. Those of you who are familiar with the Bach Concerto will know that the first movement contains the most extraordinary extended harpsichord solo ever written. The highlight of the day was hearing pianist Tad White sightread that cadenza as though he’d been playing it his entire life!
On Sunday, everyone shared the fruits of their labor in a final concert which was available to be live-streamed. Though many groups performed the well-known works of Dvorak, Schubert, Schumann, and Dohnanyi, we also were treated to lesser-known works by Uebayashi, Lefebvre, Liebermann, Persichetti, and Cras. Between the fascinating program
and dynamic, expressive performances, the 2 hour and 40 minute concert didn’t feel long at all!
With so many activities packed into a few days, it’s hard to imagine that anyone could muster the time and energy for any non-musical fun. But as it happens, there were many puzzlers among the group. Every year, pianist/violinist/violist Michael Hansen creates a crossword puzzle that is unique to Garth Newel. Since we in the GNPQ do most of the New York Times puzzles (and some of us are very competitive about it!), we were inspired by Michael to create a Connections puzzle for the occasion. Between Michael’s impressive array of prizes and Garth Newel’s merch, none of the puzzlers went home empty-handed.
As I said goodbye to all the participants as they headed back to their real lives, exhilarated and fulfilled, I remembered that the word “amateur” is based on the Latin word “amare” meaning “to love.” It is truly inspiring to observe so many people from all walks of life, who are so committed to and passionate about chamber music. Every year, they remind me that this unique art form called chamber music continues to be relevant and meaningful to this day.
– Teresa Ling
