Come sing with Village Harmony
“As an artist and educator, I was delighted to be in the presence of leaders so knowledgeable and comfortable with sharing, that learning was effortless--even with the challenge of unfamiliar languages and diverse musical styles. This aspect of Village Harmony bears great weight in our global community, as music is surely one of the best ways to connect people of different cultures.”
Village Harmony runs traditional music study-performance programs just for teenagers, alumni trips for older teens & young adults, residential weeks primarily for adults and international camps for mixed age groups. Each session is headed by a trio of music leaders fluent in a wide range of traditions and highly experienced as teachers.
Our no-holds barred attitude toward what is possible has resulted in ensembles whose sound remains dynamic, unpredictable, and absolutely exciting year after year. With their clear command of radically-varied singing styles and infectiously joyous stage presence, Village Harmony ensembles always knock people’s socks off.
Registration is now open
for our 2027 Teen Traveling Camps
New England Teen Traveling Camp I:
June 25-July 11, 2027
Led by Patty Cuyler, Bongani Magatyana and Magda Sharff
New England Teen Traveling Camp II:
July 9-25, 2027
Led by Sinead O’Mahoney, Carl Linich and Scott Sexton
Each program begins with a rehearsal week at Stump Sprouts Retreat Center in Hawley, Massachusetts, followed by a 10-day concert tour around New England.
and for our 2027 Adult Weeks & International Camps
North American Adult Singing Weeks
Oregon Week: July 7 - 13, 2027
Led by Suzannah Park, Frank Watkins & Julio Morales. Our annual program in southern Oregon, in residence at St. Benedicts Retreat in McKenzie Bridge.
New England Week: July 12-18, 2027
Led by Bongani Magatyana, Natalie Nowytski & Sarina Partridge. Our annual program in western Massachusetts, in residence at Woolman Hill Retreat Center in Deerfield. Commuters are welcome at this camp week.
International Study-Performance Camps
New Zealand January Camp: January 18-February 3, 2027
Led by Lala Simpson, Patty Cuyler & Brendan Taaffe. Rehearsal week at Magnificat Retreat in Featherston, New Zealand followed by a 10-day tour.
This camp is FULL but you can still get on the waiting list.
Croatia Camp: June 9-17, 2027
Led by Mary Cay Brass, Anita Hudjek, Jurica Petar Petrač & Teodora Stojanovska. In residence at the Hotel Varaždin in Varaždin, Croatia.
Republic of Georgia Camp: July 17-August 2, 2027
Led by Ketevan Mindorashvili, Suzannah Park & members of Zedashe Ensemble, plus workshops with Tornike Skhiereli and Ensemble Nanina. Start and finish in Sighnaghi, Kakheti with travel to Oni, Rach’a following the initial rehearsal period.
South Africa Camp: July 17-August 3, 2027
Led by Matlakala Bopape, Patty Cuyler, Carlo Pozzoli & members of the Polokwane Chorale. Rehearsals at D’Nyala Nature Reserve, Limpopo Province, followed by a 10-day tour in Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
Winter Weekend: Friday-Sunday,
Feb. 19-21, 2027
Join us for a weekend of singing, dancing, feasting and celebration. Village Harmony's Annual Winter Weekend at Hulbert Center— led this year by Patty Cuyler, Julio Morales, Suzannah Park & Sinead O’Mahoney — begins at 6:30 pm on the Friday with a delicious buffet supper followed by our first singing session and ends with a sing-through of all our songs following lunch on the Sunday.
Throughout the weekend we’ll have full group singings as well as breaking into small group sessions. On Friday and Saturday we will end the evenings with dance: Appalachian clogging, contras and Balkan folk dances, and English country dancing.
“It’s time to sing everyone!”
~ This was Larry Gordon’s signature call to rehearsals. We sorely miss Larry, VH’s founder, who died on November 9, 2021. Our memories of his joie de vivre live on—as does the sound of his strong bass voice in the many hundreds of concert recordings he made with Village Harmony and Northern Harmony ensembles.
VILLAGE HARMONY acts as an umbrella sponsoring a number of other activities, including:
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Boston Harmony - Led by Sinead O’Mahoney & Lysander Jaffe
Chicago World Music Chorus - Led by Patty Cuyler, Mollie Stone & Lonnie Norwood
Wild Asheville Community Chorus - Led by Suzannah Park
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We not only bring expert international tradition bearers to teach at our programs but also aid and sponsor foreign folk music ensembles to come to the USA to perform on tour—the most recent of which was Ensemble Zedashe from the Republic of Georgia.
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Since the pandemic years Village Harmony has been recognized for its success in connecting international teachers with community and university choirs interested in learning songs from authentic sources. We arrange not only for zoom teaching sessions but also offer access to an online platform with parts, pronunciation and performance recordings, plus background resources, to best aid singers to produce an authentic performance result.
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This is something we are working on: an interactive library that will allow searches of the our music archive by teacher, camp session, genre or year. We aim to honor VH founder Larry Gordon’s personal legacy of sharing music through this ongoing project. We have also amassed a vast archive of digital teaching resources that we hope to make public in the future. If you’d like to help support these projects through a donation, click on the link below.
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Northern Harmony is the name of the highest level, semi-professional touring group—always a shifting collaboration of singers—under Village Harmony’s umbrella. Under founder Larry Gordon’s wing these groups toured and performed widely from 1993 to his death in 2021 throughout America and Europe to great critical acclaim. We hope to resurrect the tradition before long.
Our Mission
Village Harmony is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to the study, performance and celebration of diverse styles of traditional choral music. Working with an international team of culture-bearing musicians we provide a wide range of educational and performance opportunities for amateur musicians around the world. Our aim is to promote cultural awareness and community through direct and ethical cultural exchange.