The Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck enjoyed the artistic leadership of Joan Conway for more than ten years. Over that time, Joan devoted countless hours and untold effort to strengthening and improving the festival in every conceivable way. She continues to be a valuable member of the CMFS family.

One of her many contributions was the establishment of the intern program – an effort on her part to offer student musicians the opportunity to work, for a small remuneration, with the festival in a variety of ways. In the process, they learn many real-world aspects of concert mounting and production that add immeasurably to the understanding of what a career in music can mean. During Joan’s tenure, many interns have passed through this program, including one of our current Artistic Directors, Jennifer Walvoord.

At the time of Joan’s resignation as Artistic Director the Board of Directors voted to name the intern program in her honor – The Joan Conway Young Artists Program – and to establish an endowment that will provide self-sustaining funds to carry the program into the future. This will be a permanent legacy celebrating Joan’s lifelong dedication to the nurturing of young musicians. Thanks to the generosity of many of our patrons, the fund has consistently grown in a few short years. But we are still shy of that “self-sustaining” goal.

If you have not already joined us in this worthy effort, we hope that you will consider helping us reach our goal. Contributions to The Joan Conway Young Artists Program can be sent to The Chamber Music Festival of Saugatuck, P.O. Box 1073, Saugatuck, Michigan 49453.

What better way to celebrate a great artist and her great contributions to us?

Meet the CMFS 2011 Interns

Larissa Fall

I graduated from Forest Hills Eastern High School in Grand Rapids last year. I am now a freshman at Hope College and loving it! My major is Music-Violin Performance with a minor in Biology. This is my 10th year playing the violin and my private teachers have included Natalie Hockamier, Jenny Walvoord, and now Mihai Craioveanu. I learned about the internship with CMFS through Jenny Walvoord and Andrew Le and jumped at the opportunity. I know that this internship will help me to grow as a musician because I have always performed music but never experienced the hands on and behind the scenes work that it takes to put a performance into action. I am looking forward to the experiences that this internship will give me along with the rest of my years at Hope College.

Leah Hottel

I graduated from Hope College this May with a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance, studying primarily with Dr. Huw Lewis. I am excited to be returning for a second summer at CMFS!

I am committed to pursuing a career in arts management, and am grateful to continue to gain experience in this field. I first became interested in this area when I held a dual internship with the Holland Symphony Orchestra and the Holland Area Arts Council last spring.

My horizons in the management of non-profits has been greatly expanded thanks to my time with CMFS. The artistic directors have mentored my experience to include season preparations, on-site operations, musician interaction, and patron hospitality. This is an opportunity that will provide a great foundation for my future in this field!