Message from Seth Brenzel, Executive Director
Dear Walden friends,
Happy Thanksgiving! During this season of gratitude, I am thankful for the passion, dedication, and creativity of our entire Walden community. Thank you for all the ways you show generosity to Walden: by attending our summer programs, joining us for events throughout the year, volunteering your time and efforts, and making financial contributions.
I invite you to share your gratitude with Walden on December 3 for Giving Tuesday. We will be holding a one-day fundraiser to kickstart Walden’s 2025 season, and we encourage gifts made in honor or memory of someone you’re grateful for. Please mark your calendars and read below for more details.
We are very excited to be hosting Walden holiday parties again this December and January. Please read on to find details about these wonderful events, to RSVP, and to volunteer to host a potluck gathering in your city!
We’re already looking ahead to June 14, 2025, the start of Walden’s Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR), and to June 28, 2025, when we will commence Walden’s Young Musicians Program (YMP). Both programs will be held on the beautiful Dublin School campus in Dublin, New Hampshire. If you know a creative musician, ages 9 to 99, or if you yourself might want to apply to be part of Walden Summer 2025, I hope you will pass along information about Walden and request an application.
I wish you a joyful Thanksgiving, and I hope to see you soon at a holiday party in your area, an upcoming Walden regional event, or next summer in Dublin, New Hampshire!
Sincerely,
Seth Brenzel
Executive Director
415-587-8157
Walden Holiday Parties
Warm up with Walden holiday parties! Walden community members will be gathering for holiday potlucks in cities throughout the country this December and January. So far, we have two confirmed dates, with more to be announced soon:
Sunday, December 15, from 4 to 6 pm
Sunday, January 12, from 3 to 5 pm
These events are open to Walden and Junior Conservatory Camp (JCC) alumni, faculty, staff, artists, donors, and board members, as well as friends and family. Please save the date and help us spread the word!
RSVP by email or call (415) 587-8157. When you RSVP, please let us know what you would like to bring, and we will send you the address.
If you are interested in hosting a party in your area, please contact us. We are so grateful to this season’s hosts and the many volunteers who have hosted Walden holiday parties over the years.
Celebrate Giving Tuesday with Walden
Share your gratitude on December 3.
Share your gratitude on December 3.Giving Tuesday is a global day dedicated to giving back. On Tuesday, December 3, communities around the world will come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give.
During this season of gratitude, Walden is encouraging gifts in honor or memory of someone you’re grateful for. It could be a teacher who mentored you or your child, a creative artist who inspired you, or a friend or family member who made a difference in your life. We are happy to contact your dedicatee to let them know you made a gift to Walden in their honor.
We hope you will consider making a gift to Walden on Giving Tuesday. Your gift of any amount will be put to work making Walden’s 2025 summer programs a success. See below for ways to donate, or visit our Facebook page to participate in a one-day fundraiser. Our Giving Tuesday goal is to raise $5,300 for Walden’s upcoming 53rd season!
Give the Gift of Walden
Bring some summer magic to the holiday season and support Walden School programs and initiatives with your order of Walden merchandise!
Enjoy 20% off of all Walden merchandise orders, now through January 5.
We have Walden beach towels (new!), blankets (new!), hoodies, shirts, baseball caps, canvas totes, stickers, mugs, pens, pencils, and more.
See what’s available and fill out an order form here.
Orders can be placed by check or money order, or via credit card/PayPal. Please contact Mindy Williams, Walden’s Administrative Manager, or call the Walden office at (415) 587-8157 if you have any questions.
Apply for Walden 2025
The early application deadline is Monday, December 16.
We are thrilled to announce that applications for The Walden School’s 2025 summer programs are now open! The early-round deadline to apply to the Young Musicians Program (YMP) and Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) is Monday, December 16. We encourage you to share the news with your friends, family, colleagues, students, and teachers.
Walden’s 2025 programs:
- Creative Musicians Retreat: June 14 – June 22, 2025, Dublin School, Dublin, New Hampshire (for musicians ages 18-98)
- Young Musicians Program: June 28 – August 3, 2025, Dublin School, Dublin, New Hampshire (for pre-college musicians, ages 9-18)
Application materials for both programs are available on our website.
Write to us at applicants@waldenschool.org
Young Musicians Program (YMP)
Information Sessions
Join us to learn more about the music camp that changes lives.
Join us to learn more about the music camp that changes lives.Do you know a student who writes songs or arranges music? Or a young improviser who wants to strengthen their musicianship and meet like-minded peers? Or a music teacher who might like to learn about Walden’s unique curriculum?
Join us at one of our online interactive information sessio
All YMP Info Sessions are held on Zoom. Learn more and register for one of the info sessions below:
These events are open to prospective students, music teachers, and anyone else who would like to learn about Walden’s flagship program for musicians ages 9 to 18.
A Walden School/PRISM Quartet Premiere
Congratulations to Young Musicians Program (YMP) alumnus Aaron Nichols, recipient of The Walden School/PRISM Quartet Student Commissioning Award, on the premiere of his commissioned work, Mesovortex!
Aaron’s piece was performed by PRISM Quartet in Philadelphia on November 17 and New York City on November 18. Walden hosted receptions after each concert, and we were so glad to see several Walden alumni and friends in attendance! Many thanks to Walden faculty member, academic dean, and Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) alumnus Nate Trier for organizing the receptions. Thanks also to Walden board member Kate Valenta and to Mary Anne O’Meara, a past board member and Junior Conservatory Camp (JCC) alumna, for their assistance.
Walden is proud to partner with PRISM Quartet on this opportunity to support young composers in their creative development. We are especially grateful to Matthew Levy, founding member of PRISM Quartet and a former member of Walden’s Board of Directors, for his longstanding collaboration and leadership. The Walden School/PRISM Quartet Student Commissioning Award was launched in 2000, and since then 22 Young Musicians Program (YMP) students have received the award and had their compositions premiered on PRISM’s concert series.
Community News
Walden at the GRAMMYs!
The 2025 Grammy Awards nominations were announced on November 8, with five going to members of the Walden Community! The Best Opera Recording category includes both The Shining, by past Young Musicians Program (YMP) Composer-in-Residence Paul Moravec, and Kaija Saariaho’s Adriana Mater, featuring the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, which includes Walden Executive Director Seth Brenzel, Creative Musicians Retreat (CMR) alum Drew Kravin, Walden bookkeeper Brielle Morgan Neilson, and former Walden administrative staff members Elizabeth Susskind and Chung-Wai Soong. YMP alumna Andrea Grody is nominated for Best Musical Theater Album as the co-producer and music supervisor of the original cast album of Suffs. Seth Parker Woods, a past member of The Walden School Players, received a nod for Best Classical Instrument Solo for Eastman: The Holy Presence Of Joan D’Arc. And JACK Quartet (which includes Austin Wulliman, a past visiting artist at Walden) is nominated for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for its recording of Waves and Particles by John Luther Adams.
Ruth Hertzman-Miller and Sarah Kirkland Snider to be featured on Carnegie Hall program
Compositions by CMR alumna Ruth Hertzman-Miller and 2024 YMP Composer-in-Residence Sarah Kirkland Snider will be performed on December 15 at Carnegie Hall, on a program titled Celebration of the Voice of Women Composers. The concert is being presented by Vox Feminarum, a new nonprofit committed to creating a global platform that elevates the work of women composers. To order tickets, click here.
Kate Soper awarded Marie-Josée Kravis Emerging Composer Prize by the New York Philharmonic
Composer and vocalist Kate Soper, a past visiting artist at Walden with Wet Ink Ensemble, has been named the Kravis Emerging Composer by the New York Philharmonic as part of the Marie-Josée Kravis Prize for New Music. She will receive a $50,000 stipend and a commission to compose a new work that the Philharmonic will premiere in May 2025, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. This opportunity to explore the orchestral texture in a meta-theatrical sense will continue Kate’s existing work in creating “unique and uncategorizable musico-theatrical spectacles.” Congratulations, Kate!
Violin concerto by Michael Kropf performed on Concert for Peace
Moses in Nederland, a violin concerto by CMR alumnus and former YMP faculty member Michael Kropf, was performed on November 24 in Milwaukee as part of a Concert for Peace, a program presented by the ensemble Present Music. The work is inspired by Kropf’s great-grandfather, Moses Schenkein, who, Michael writes, “as a European Jew living in Holland, was forced to lead his family on a dangerous and miraculous journey of escape from the horrors of the Holocaust. He was also an amateur violinist and composer, and left behind a folder of short melodic compositions,” some of which are incorporated in the concerto. An earlier performance of the work can be viewed here. Michael is on faculty at Gonzaga University as Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition.
Sarah Stroud authors new book
Sarah Stroud, a professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, member of Walden’s Board of Directors, and mother of YMP alumna and faculty member Francesca Hellerman, is the co-author, along with Daniel Muñoz, of a new book: Ethical Theory: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments. The book covers classic debates and problems, such as the Trolley Problem and the Repugnant Conclusion, and explores more recent topics of interest, including the ethics of AI. Congratulations on this publication, Sarah!
Song cycle by Freya Waley-Cohen to be performed in New York City
Book two of Spell Book by YMP alumna Freya Waley-Cohen will be performed by the St. Luke’s Chamber Players on December 4 at the DiMenna Center in New York City, in a concert on the theme of Spells and Revelations. Spell Book is a song cycle set to poems by Rebecca Tamás published in the 2019 collection Witch. A recording of Spell Book was released in October on NMC Records. Tickets to the December 4 concert can be purchased here.
Mary H. Crawford and Jimmy Levi engaged
We are excited to share the news that YMP alumni Mary Crawford and Jimmy Levi have gotten engaged! Mary and Jimmy live in San Francisco, where they attended Walden’s celebration and fundraiser in September.
Congratulations, Mary and Jimmy!
In Memoriam
Mary Murrell (Bennett) Faulkner
We are sad to share the news Mary Murrell (Bennett) Faulkner died on October 27, 2024. Mary attended the Junior Conservatory Camp (JCC), Walden’s predecessor program, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Her obituary can be found here. Mary was a distinguished organist and church musician who also worked as a professional tax advisor. Fellow JCC alum Bob Weaver shares that Mary can be seen in this JCC video (prepared by the late Ron Nelson) at the 12:45 mark in a top emblazoned with a large “T”. Walden joins Mary’s family and all who remember her from the JCC in mourning her passing.
We Want To Hear From You!
If you have a recent or upcoming premiere or concert, publication, award, new job, or a celebratory life event, please share your news, which needn’t be music-related (although we love your music-related news to be sure!). Email your news to alumni@waldenschool.org.
Stay in Touch
You can like The Walden School page on Facebook and join The Walden School private group to hear about events and opportunities throughout the year. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, bandcamp, and at waldenschool.org.
A dance during the 2019 Young Musicians Program
