Canadian Amateur Musicians/Musiciens Amateurs du Canada (CAMMAC) is a Canadian nonprofit organization supporting amateur music making at all ages and levels. CAMMAC runs a summer music centre (CAMMAC Lake MacDonald in the

Laurentian Mountains The Laurentian Mountains, also known as the Laurentians or Laurentides, are a mountain range in Canada. The range is long and ranges in height from with peaks over . The Laurentian Mountains extend across Labrador and Quebec within the Laurent ...

northwest of Montreal,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. CAMMAC also holds regional activities year-round in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and

Ottawa-Gatineau The National Capital Region (NCR) (, ), also known as Canada's Capital Region and Ottawa–Gatineau, is an official federal designation encompassing the Canada, Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the adjacent city of Gatineau, Quebec, and su ...

. The Music Centre offers individual weeks of classes and music-making opportunities for adults and children during nine summer weeks. The different weeks emphasize different kinds of music. The regions support a variety of music-making, including, in different regions, monthly choral readings, orchestral performances, and specialized groups such as madrigal singing, jazz band, chamber music workshops and recorder ensembles. The Music Centre also offers occasional activities on weekends during the year and supports a lending library of musical material. The Montréal region, which is the largest by membership, organizes a regularly rehearsing amateur orchestra. All regions organize local readings and workshops. Apart from other readings and workshops, since 1988 the Ottawa-Gatineau region has organized an annual ''Come Sing

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

'' event, with over 700 participating singers.

History

CAMMAC was founded in 1953 by George and Carl Little, with their wives, Madeleine and Frances. The four set up a music centre at Otter Lake in the Laurentians, and began organizing a music camp which included music from many cultures. Other active founding members were Mario Duschenes, who taught recorder for many years; and Walter and Otto Joachim. In 1968, CAMMAC opened a summer music camp at Lake MacDonald at Harrington, Quebec. Canadian baritone and educator Jan Simons was general director of CAMMAC from 1969 to 1990, and taught at the Lake MacDonald centre for 50 years. While CAMMAC's focus has been amateur music making, a number of alumni have gone on to professional careers in music, in some cases coming back as teachers. From 1978 to 2009, CAMMAC also operated a second music centre in the Toronto area (various locations), called the CAMMAC Ontario Music Centre. This centre was renamed Lake Field Music in 2010, moved to the

Lakefield College School Lakefield College School (sometimes called LCS, The Grove or simply Lakefield) is a private day and boarding school located north of the village of Lakefield, Ontario. It was the first Canadian member of Round Square, an international affiliatio ...

in the

Kawartha Lakes Kawartha Lakes (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 79,247) is a List of municipalities in Ontario , single-tier municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. Though structured as a single-tier municipality, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typica ...

area of

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

), and operates as an independent entity. At various times, in addition to the regions mentioned above, CAMMAC chapters were active in

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

and

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. Since July 2020, CAMMAC’s summer music camp has been offering a wide range of music classes online. There was a wide range of disciplines and genres, from classical piano to world percussion. Private and semi-private classes, group classes, workshops and conferences are available, offered by an impressive lineup of experienced professional musicians. Notable conferences include 400 Years of Opera, A History of One of the Major Genres of Classical Music, presented in collaboration with the

Opéra de Montréal LOpéra de Montréal () is an opera company in Montreal, Canada. It performs at the Place des Arts theatre complex in downtown Montreal, in the borough of Ville-Marie. It was founded in 1980 as a company focused on productions in French. Hi ...

References

External links

CAMMAC's websiteEntry on CAMMAC at ''the Canadian Encyclopedia''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canadian Amateur Musicians Musiciens Amateurs du Canada Music organizations based in Canada Non-profit organizations based in Canada 1953 establishments in Canada