Summer Strings Camp

Monday, July 21 to Friday, July 25, 2025
9:00 am to 4:30 pm

Summer Strings Camp is an orchestral training camp designed for string players who are looking for an enriching and fun summer experience making music and new friends. Students will have the opportunity to sharpen their orchestral and ensemble skills with conductor Joy Schuster. Daily activities will include orchestra rehearsals, sectionals and workshops with guest instructors. The week will conclude with a pizza party lunch on Friday and a final performance on Friday afternoon for family and friends. This camp is suitable for ages 7+, as well as those with a minimum proficiency of RCM Level 3 or Suzuki Book 2. The ability to read music is required. Any questions regarding required skill level can be directed to Joy Schuster: joy.schuster@gmail.com

Cost: $395

To inquire about financial assistance, please email office@gymc.ca

Conductor Joy Schuster

Joy Schuster, as a teacher with the Suzuki String School of Guelph, is a familiar face at the Guelph Youth Music Centre. She graduated, with honours, from Michigan State University in 1987 with a Bachelor of Music Education. Joy then went on to teach in the beautiful state of Maine where she was teaching full time as a “string specialist” in Grades 3–8. In 1989, Joy immigrated to Canada where she taught with the Hamilton school board and the Hamilton Suzuki School of Music. Joy is the director of the GYMC String Orchestra program, concertmaster of the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, and director of the CSO Youth Orchestra.

Buckets of Fun with Adam Bowman

Drummer and percussionist, Adam Bowman, has been a mainstay in both the Canadian and international music scenes for more than two decades. As a touring musician, Adam has been heard on stages across five continents with artists such as Juno-award winners Kellylee Evans and Carlos Morgan, Canadian independent music trail blazer Ember Swift, improvising guru VINX and country-folk songstress Dawn Langstroth, among many others. In the studio, Adam has become the drummer of choice for producers and songwriters on a variety of recordings. 2015 saw Juno-nominations for Eccodek’s Singing in Tongues album, and Alysha Brilla’s Womyn album. In 2018, Alysha’s Rooted album received another nod. Visit adambowman.com

Improvisation with Elena Spanu

Elena Spanu received her Bachelor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Western Ontario. It was at Western where she discovered Baroque violin and moved on to complete an Artist Diploma in Baroque Violin at the University of Toronto. Elena has received teacher training in the Suzuki Method at the Southwestern Strings Suzuki Institute (SOSI). She has completed training in books 1-8. Elena currently holds the seat of principal second with the North York Concert Orchestra. She is also a regular section player with the Niagara Symphony.

Movement with Georgia Simms

Georgia Simms’ 20-year dance performance career, both as a company member with Dancetheatre David Earle and as a freelance artist/choreographer, has taken her to different parts of Canada, France and South Korea. She has taught Graham-based modern technique as well as improvisation in a variety of contexts since 2005. These experiences in dance combined with her academic studies, in geography, governance and arts-based community engagement, inform her creation of embodied learning experiences for University of Guelph students in the First Year Seminar Program. She also weaves movement into group facilitation and program design for the organization, Art Not Shame