Choir Camp 2025
Whether you already love traditional choral music or want to learn, join the St. Andrew’s Summer Choir Camp this summer in beautiful Lake Almanor, CA.
Music for Choir Camp: The music for the choir camp will be posted here closer to event dates. Registered campers will be contacted when the music is ready.
Important: Campers are expected to come as practiced as possible, so that the work of pulling the choir together can go forward, rather than all the time and effort being spent on learning the parts.
Clergy Track: Clergy are encouraged to come and learn more about chanting and singing services.
Why Choir Camp?
Ludwig van Beethoven once remarked, “Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy,” and indeed that greatest of revelations — our Lord Jesus Christ — was celebrated by music: the song of a young Maiden in praise of what God was accomplishing through her; the strains of the heavenly host over the fields of Bethlehem; a lullaby sung to a Divine Infant.
That music has echoed down through the centuries, from the eight-fold daily chorus of countless monks interceding for the whole of creation, to the sublime majesty of English Evensong.
The Church built a civilization through her music, and she will win back that civilization when she begins to sing again.
For one week, we immerse ourselves, young and old, men and women, in the full tradition of the Church as expressed through the daily prayer services of the Book of Common Prayer. Mornings begin with sung choral Matins, employing both Anglican chant and plainsong. The day continues with rehearsals and education sessions, exploring the role of theology in music, the technique and practice of Gregorian chant, and basic music theory. Recreation—boating, sailing, skiing, swimming, hiking—and some of the best food you’ll taste at any camp—fill out the schedule, and the days finish with choral Evensong.
During the week, the choristers prepare several pieces of Renaissance polyphony, in English and Latin, to be sung at the concluding weekend liturgies. Previous camps have featured William Byrd, Christopher Tye, Jacques Arcadelt, Orlando Gibbons, and Thomas Ford.
Some students arrive with little formal vocal training while some are seasoned choristers. Nevertheless, they all work hard, have plenty of fun, and are able to put together wonderful liturgies to share with the local community.
The St. Andrew’s Choir Camp is a unique opportunity for all ages and musical backgrounds to spend a week with the rhythms of Prayer Book life expressed through the greatest music of the Church. It is in many ways a spiritual retreat, in which prayer, song, education, and recreation are woven together. We hope that when the week is over, those who participated will return to their own communities renewed and encouraged, to spread what they have learned.
We look forward to singing with you!
