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SoCal Chamber Music Workshop

The 2025 workshop will be held July 20 – 26, 2025. Applications will open on February 1st. We will be accepting single applicants who will be placed into a new ensemble each day with a chamber work assignment for the day as well as pre-formed groups.

The SoCal Chamber Music Workshop (SCCMW) is a 1-week workshop for adult amateur and professional chamber musicians, age 18 and above. Our participants include strings, piano, and winds. We gather for a week in July at Scripps College in Claremont, California. Musicians spend their days working on chamber music repertoire while receiving coaching to improve the quality of their musicianship in an ensemble. Our environment is welcoming, positive, and social while encouraging each musician to push beyond their limitations. For more details about the workshop, please see the following links: About SoCal, The Week in Detail, Special Projects, FAQs.

SoCal 2024 Photo Album

SoCal 2023

SoCal 2022

Photos 2022

Pei-Ling coaching with gusto!

Yoga with Ingrid

Women Composer Fest with Rachel Huang

Twins!

Born to play piano!

Reading Elgar Piano Quintet with Susan Freier

Joyce, Leo and Ingrid

8 AM Reading Session “Pizzicato”

Reading Vivian Fung “Pizzicato” with Maggie Parkins

Reading Vivian Fung’s “Pizzicato” with Maggie Parkins

Celebrating Works By Women Composers!

During the 2022 workshop, we encouraged our participants to explore works written by women composers. Many of these beautiful works have been hidden from the spotlight and excluded from the traditional chamber music canon. We have curated a list of chamber works by women for you and your group to explore: Women Chamber Works. We have also purchased dozens of these works by women for our SoCal Library so that they are available to play at the workshop for years to come.

For the 2021 workshop, we sponsored a “Call for Scores” competition for best contemporary chamber piece written by a living woman composer who resides in California. This included string quartets and quintets which were not yet published and would be appropriate for chamber musicians at our workshop to play. The winner of this competition, announced May 15, 2021 was Erika Oba with her piece, “Akoya.” For more details about this project click here.

A video from our time as the San Diego Chamber Music Workshop

Testimonials

Shakespeare Sonnet #110

“Phenomenal coaching!”

-Margaret S., 2016

“First year, I didn’t know what to expect! Received so much support from the coaches and attendees, and made some good friends! I will come again!”

-Eric B., 2018

“SoCal is the pinnacle of workshops for coaching, caliber of players, beauty of campus, and parties!”–Cherie G., 2018

“I have attended 3 years now and I keep coming back for more. Each year deepens my understanding and enjoyment of chamber music. The coaching is amazing, and I’ve learned so much.”–Charles Y., 2019

“The SoCal Chamber Music Workshop is an environment that fosters a great love and learning of music. Once here, you will be immersed in a community of people who strive to find beauty in the world.”–Milton W., 2018

“My week at SoCal provided an inspiring chance to make music with wonderful friends, become a better player, learn from terrific coaches, and play new literature. It was the perfect week!”–Gayle H., 2019

“The SCCMW is a wonderful week of excellent chamber music playing and pleasant conversations with old and new music friends. After attending for over twenty summers, it just keeps getting better and is an important part of my year.”

–Alice L., 2018

“The overall playing level was higher than ever! This workshop brings together incredible coaches and outstanding participants for a week of intense, fulfilling music immersion. ”

–Sarah C. 2019

“A week-long workshop that will push you to new heights, both personally and musically.”

-Raymond M., 2018

“The SCCMW makes my life better and I look forward to it each year.” –Ingrid B., 2019

“This workshop continues to improve and innovate each year with the object of increasing our chamber music playing skills, musical enlightenment, and making new and strengthening old friendships. I’m proud to be witnessing its growth.”

–Ron G., 2019

“Once again, I have improved as a musician over the course of the week. Thank you SCCMW!”

–Caroline C., 2019

“This workshop really pushed my level of artistry like no other musical experience I’ve ever had. Well thought out planning and resources strikes a great balance between relaxing musical retreat and intense ensemble workshop. It has earned a permanent spot in my annual calendar.”

–Peter C., 2019

“This is a place where you can leave everything behind and just play chamber music.”

–Alex N., 2018