The Cazadero Performing Arts Camp (also known as Cazadero Music Camp, or Cazadero) is a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perfo ...

camp Camp may refer to: Outdoor accommodation and recreation * Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site * a temporary settlement for nomads * Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...

located in the Sonoma redwoods in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

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.Burrell, Jackie. (July 15, 2007)

Contra Costa Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East ...

Harmony among the redwoods; 50 years later, Cazadero camp is still serving up summer musical magic.
' Section: Time Out; Page C3. Established in 1957 by then Berkeley High School band director Bob Lutt (who eventually was made executive director of the Berkeley Symphony), the first campers were a mixture of Berkeley High teens and members of the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San F ...

History of the camp

Since 1957, the camp has had a significant influence in many facets of

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

music, including the

, the orchestras for the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

and the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

, and

Tower of Power Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted th ...

, an

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...

10-member horn-based

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

band formed in 1968. The first few years the camp consisted of musicians and their families. By 1963 they took over the entire summer for music education. In the mid- 70s Lutt and the city of Berkeley had a disagreement over the type of musicians who would attend the camp. The city of Berkeley thought the skill range of musicians who attend the camp should be more general so that students with different skill levels would all have the ability to attend. However, Lutt thought only more serious musicians should attend. In 1995 Bob’s son Bill Lutt, called former campers to see if they would be interested in resurrecting the camp. The following year music students returned to Cazadero.

Founder Bob Lutt

Long time music teacher Bob Lutt was the founder of Cazadero Performing Arts Camp. Born in Nebraska, he started his life-long passion for music by asking his parents for a $25 trombone when he was 12. In 1954 Lutt began teaching at Berkeley High School. His years of teaching experience compelled him to ask Berkeley city officials to let him use a plot of land near Russian River. Lutt retired after 35 years of public education but could not stay away from music for very long. Bob was committed to music education until his death in October 26, 2011.

Visiting conductors

Cazadero attracts a wide range of in demand music educators from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond as music instruction is an essential aspect of everyday camp life. Every week Cazadero has a different conductor for orchestra, concert band, jazz band, and all camp choir. In the 2019 Junior High session, Aaron Smith was a guest conductor for concert band. During the school year, Smith works as a music teacher at

Monterey Trail High School Monterey Trail High School (MTHS or MT) is a 9th-12th grade college preparatory high school located in Elk Grove, California. The school was established in 2004 as part of the Elk Grove Unified School District. History The school color of fore ...

in Elk Grove, California. Also in the summer of 2019, Michael Boitz from Saratoga High School, Patrick Langham, Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Pacific and Susanna Peeples, worked as guest conductors for the junior high orchestra.

Music faculty/staff

Cazadero faculty have been innovative with their instructional methods as they were the first to conceive of a professional baroque chamber orchestra composed entirely of period instruments, resulting in the 1981 creation of the

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO) is an American orchestra based in San Francisco. PBO is dedicated to historically informed performance of Baroque, Classical and early Romantic music on original instruments. The orchestra performs its su ...

by harpsichordist Laurette Goldberg.

Programs for Musicians

Each summer, the camp host
educational programs for young musicians
as well as the Cazadero Performing Arts Family Camp where children and adults take arts classes side-by-side. Campers also enjoy 'downtime activities' such as swimming, ping pong, basketball, lanyards, friendship bracelets and

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. The camp, which sits atop the late 19th century location of the then-infamous

Bohemian Grove Bohemian Grove is a restricted 2,700-acre (1,100 ha) campground at 20601 Bohemian Avenue, in Monte Rio, California, United States, belonging to a private San Francisco–based gentlemen's club known as the Bohemian Club. In mid-July each year, ...

, maintains a signature

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridges, which lack vertical ...

over which more than 100,000 young musicians have crossed.Burrell, Jackie. (July 15, 2007)

The Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' is a weekly newspaper published in Oakland, California, by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' rose to become an influential daily newspaper. With the decli ...

Summer music camp thrives in the key of Caz.
' Section: Bay Area Living.

References

{{authority control Companies based in Sonoma County, California Education in Sonoma County, California Educational institutions established in 1957 Arts organizations established in 1957 Arts organizations based in the San Francisco Bay Area Schools of the performing arts in the United States Summer camps in California Buildings and structures in Sonoma County, California Camping in the United States Event venues established in 1957 1957 establishments in California