Welcome to the home page of The Quartet Program. Founded by Charles Castleman in 1970, this unique summer program will be at two locations in 2009: seven weeks in Fredonia, NY and four weeks at Boulder, Colorado.

In the words of Yo-Yo Ma,

"The Quartet Program is the best program of its kind that I know. Every young person not only learns many of the great works written for this genre, but they must also learn how to work with each other and to communicate the most personal thoughts to their colleagues. No one emerges from the program without great love of music and better knowledge of interpersonal relationships. I view this program as a training ground for lifemanship."

Each seven-week participant learns "from scratch" and performs at The Quartet Program one Concerto movement, 2 contrasting Bach movements, or the equivalent along with two string quartets and a Sonata, - ideal preparation for college auditions or solo competitions. There are analogous opportunities for three-week participants. A week of Sonata study is built into the Boulder curriculum and into the 7-week session at Fredonia. Subject to availability, it also may be added to either three-week session at QP East.

One of last summer's participants, Caeli Smith, "Roving Reporter" for NPR's From The Top wrote an apt description of her experience for violinist.com, available at "http://www.violinist.com/blog/caeli/20088".

Given that only 36 participants are accepted in a given session, QP's success rate is unique. Twenty-one active professional chamber groups have more than one QP alumnus as members, and ninety-three such groups have one QP alumnus. Eighty-six orchestras have at least one principal player who attended QP. QP counts among its past participants a VP of Deutsche Bank, a doctor who discovered a cure for a previously always fatal genetic disease, an executive of Legal Aid in the San Francisco area, several Grammy winners and finalists, directors and writers of such TV shows as “Seinfeld” and “Desperate Housewives”, producers for the most important recording companies, and more than twenty directors of their own Arts Programs. QP’s record of success is self-perpetuating. Alumni of QP are excited to help younger colleagues who shared the same QP experience. Those QP alumni that attended Harvard, Yale, and Princeton in the past made such marks as students there, that almost 100% of QP alumni applying to those schools are accepted.

QP’s schedule is partially structured, offering a sample organized workday, and partially unstructured to allow each participant to discover the most effective conditions for his/her optimum progress. The group, assembled and assigned by Charles Castleman, remains intact for the duration of the program, with all the QP faculty involved in teaching verbal and non-verbal communication and the principles of Group Dynamics, and mediating problem resolution.

To learn more about The Quartet Program, follow these links:

	History -- including testimonials from some of the world's best-known musicians
	Schedule of Concerts and Classes-- Summer '09 (updated 7/1/09)
	Staff -- Summer '09 (updated 6/27/09)
	Venue -- see where concerts are held and how to get there
	Alumni Jobs-- who's who and where (updated 5/29/09)

 

 

If you are interested in becoming a participant in The Quartet Program then the following links provide useful information.

	Forms:application et al (printer-friendly)(updated 10/23/08)
	What to expect as a participant (updated 6/18/09)