Wharton Arts
Located in Northern New Jersey
Explore musical traditions and cultures around the world through different instruments, crafts, and traditional clothing. Campers will dance, sing, play games, and learn new words from a new country each day. Grab your passport and set sail on a musical adventure!
Additional Option
Early Drop Off Registration
Designed for the beginning pianist, campers will learn how to locate notes on the piano, correct hand position and posture, rhythms, music symbols, note values and solfeggio through musical games and movement activities. Come hear your camper perform in Wharton’s piano lab on the last day of camp!
Additional Option
Early Drop Off Registration
Our youngest campers will explore all things violin from building their own box violin to being fitted for their very first instrument. This is a wonderful opportunity to try out the violin in a fun and nurturing environment. Instrumental rental fee not included in camp tuition.
Additional Option
Early Drop Off Registration
The Chamber Music Camp provides young musicians with the opportunity to learn and perform chamber music literature composed for small un-conducted chamber ensembles. Chamber music is performed with one musician per part. The program develops both beginning and advanced students’ musicianship by building on current technical skills, expanding listening and group collaboration skills. Students are placed in chamber ensembles by NJYS Artistic Staff based on ensemble levels. Each groups session will be two hours; one hour of coaching with a faculty member and one hour of self-guided rehearsal. In the event that a group cannot be formed based on enrollment, the family will be informed, and a refund will be issued. Pre-formed groups are encouraged.
Recommended for students whose playing level is between NJYS Solo Levels 1-6, and in 3rd-12th grade. For details on solo levels, please visit NJYS.org.
Students who are not currently in an NJYS ensemble are required to submit a placement video by May 1. For video requirements and video submission instructions, visit NJYS.org
NJYS Orchestral Camp: String Session
6/22 – 7/3 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. (No camp 6/28, 6/29)
Performance: 7/3
Registration Deadline May 15
Early Bird Deadline: May 1
Join the NJYS Orchestral Camp this summer for a fun and rewarding experience in either the Winds/Brass/Percussion Session or String Session. Each day, both sessions will join forces to create the NJYS Summer Festival Orchestra and perform a final concert on Thursday, July 3, at 12 pm.
At the Summer String Session, campers will develop confidence through performance and teamwork while enhancing their playing skills and technique. They’ll also have the opportunity to explore a new instrument, such as the viola or bass, through our doubling program. Recommended for students whose playing level falls between NJYS Solo Levels 1-4, 10th grade or younger. For details on solo levels, please visit NJYS.org.
Students who are not currently in an NJYS ensemble are required to submit a placement video by May 1. For video requirements and video submission instructions, visit NJYS.org
NJYS Orchestral Camp: Winds/Brass/Percussion Session
6/22 – 7/3 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (No camp 6/28, 6/29)
Performance: 7/3, 9-1:30 pm
Registration Deadline May 15
Early Bird Deadline: May 1
Join the NJYS Orchestral Camp this summer for a fun and rewarding experience in either the Winds/Brass/Percussion Session or String Session. Each day, both sessions will join forces to create the NJYS Summer Festival Orchestra and perform a final concert on Thursday, July 3, at 12 pm.
The Summer Winds/Brass/Percussion Session is designed to continue progress built during the school year for the young wind player. Campers will play in a full camp wind ensemble with music arranged for the camp’s specific instrumentation. Every student will learn to play a secondary instrument from the family of “less common” band instruments. This ranges from bassoon, oboe, trombone, French horn, and tuba and varies from year to year. Students will choose their secondary instrument on the first day of camp with the help of our Summer Winds Camp staff.
Winds/Brass/Percussion Session welcomes two types of students:
Secondary Instrument Option: Any student embarking on a new instrument for the school year or contemplating a switch can spend the entire camp on the new instrument. At the end of the two week camp, students will perform on both their primary and secondary instruments in a final concert open to the public.
Recommended for students whose playing level is between NJYS Solo Levels 1-2, and in 9th grade or younger. For details on solo levels, please visit NJYS.org.
Students who are not currently in an NJYS ensemble are required to submit a placement video by May 1. For video requirements and video submission instructions, visit NJYS.org
The New Jersey Youth Symphony’s Double Reed Camp offers a dynamic summer program catering to bassoonists and oboists in the state of New Jersey and the broader Mid-Atlantic region. This immersive experience provides aspiring young musicians with the opportunity to deepen their understanding of their instrument, engage in the rich world of bassoon and oboe chamber music, connect with seasoned professional players, delve into reed crafting, explore auxiliary instruments such as the English horn and contrabassoon, participate in high-caliber ensemble performances, and, above all, foster a vibrant community of passionate young double reed players.
Praised for his “soaring expression” and “impressive technical command” (IDRS Journal 46, No 2), bassoonist Joseph Swift enjoys a varied career as a performer, educator, and recording artist. Joseph currently serves as principal bassoon of the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and has performed with many orchestras across the United States and Canada, in addition to chamber performances throughout the East Coast, Midwest, and London, England. He has performed with the South Bend Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, York Symphony Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, and Napa Festival Orchestra among others. He also earned a Silver Medal in the Senior Wind Division with the Vanguard Reed Quintet at the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Joseph is currently the bassoon faculty at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts, where he has grown a robust private studio and reputation in the state of New Jersey. Joseph earned his bachelor degree from Western Michigan University, two master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, and his DMA at Stony Brook University. His primary teachers include Robert Williams, Gwendolyn Rose, Jeffrey Lyman, and Frank Morelli. His debut solo album Room to Breathe was released in March 2023 receiving high acclaim across distinguished musical journals. His collaboration with pianist Calvin Hu shines across 5 world premieres for bassoon and piano ignited by the lived experiences of 5 composers of various personal and professional backgrounds. Joseph is an endorsed artist with Key Leaves and bassoon specialist at Silverstein Works. Outside of music Joseph enjoys traveling, golfing, speed-solving Rubik’s cubes, fitness, and spending time with his wife Cat and their dog Dunkin. A Michigan native, he is currently located in Somerset, New Jersey.
Over the course of 16 weeks, students are immersed in musical theater! Students attend rehearsals each Friday to put together a full production of Winnie the Pooh KIDS from beginning to end. They’ll experience it all in one class: audition prep, auditions, rehearsals, leading up to two full performances with live accompaniment, lights, sets and costumes!
Mandatory Dress/Tech Rehearsal: 5/30/25
Performances: 5/30 at 7:00 p.m. and 5/31 at 3:00 p.m.
Interested in enrolling your child in this course? Add on Musical Theater Singing or Dance for Theater Actors for 5% off at checkout!
Broadway Babies is an introduction to the essentials of Musical Theater. Students learn about the “triple threat” skills of voice, drama, dance, and rudimentary music notation and apply these elements in a showcase performance at the end of each season. Performances will be held on the final day of class.
Performance: March 22