Imagine a spin on your regular work week – you’re not in the office, instead you’re atop a peaceful country hillside, dining on highly praised cuisine while conversing with fellow professional artists at work. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, as it turns out, facilities like this do exist, and as rare as they may be, we happen to have one right up the road, Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Boscawen.
Unfortunately for us, since we’re not talented members of a choir group or jazz ensemble, we won’t be penciled into the farm’s busy schedule any time soon, but we still got a chance to go check out what it’s all about.
The institute is the product of a combined vision formed between musically minded cellist Deborah Sherr and dedicated philanthropist Dr. Alfred Tauber. Sherr had a longtime dream of creating a professional music retreat for artists, and Tauber was set on a goal to bring something of lasting cultural value to Boscawen. After meeting in Western Massachusetts at a music camp Sherr taught at, the two decided to join on a business endeavor and bring the idea of this one-of-a-kind music institution to life.
“Musicians work very hard, often in the city with very little room to move, so this is pretty wonderful for them,” Sherr said.
Musicians have traveled from as far as Australia, Israel, California and all around the United States to work and stay at the farm, Sherr said, and not once has a guest left unhappy.
Since opening their doors in 2013, Avaloch, which claims about 60 acres of Tauber’s 200-acre property, has continued to grow in popularity at a steady pace.
“We turned away about seven applications this year,” said Sherr, adding that the applications have doubled almost every year since opening. “We just have so many applications that we realized last year that we could expand.”
“We went from 20 beds to 34 this year,” said Tauber, owner of the farm. “We have 122 rooms.”
So what is it about the farm, set off a dirt road in rural New Hampshire with practically no cellphone service or nearby attractions, that keeps artists coming back?
“What’s unique about this place is there’s no institution that’s devoted to repertoire musicians and cultivating their skills and for them to develop their repertoire,” Tauber said.
Musicians staying at Avaloch Farm are working professionals. And although they are coming to a place that may seem as luxurious as a vacation retreat, the residents are strictly here to work.
“They come as a group, apply as a group,” Sherr said. “They apply with some kind of project in mind to work on repertoire, get ready for a concert series or just to spend time practicing with each other that isn’t in their crazy everyday lives,” she said.
To apply, musicians complete an online application on the institute’s website and send in a 20-minute video of their work, as well as two recommendations from musicians who know them. Then there’s a long process Tauber and Sherr go through to review the applications.
“They also let us know when they can be here, and that is probably the hardest part, piecing it all together,” Sherr said. The institute is only open from May to September.
“She’s a magician, I tell you,” Tauber chimed in.
“A week is a normal length to stay, but musicians have crazy lives teaching and all sorts of things, so usually two weeks max, just before doing a competition where they’ve locked out a free period so they can just work and then go to perform,” Sherr said.
Once at Avaloch, artists are provided with a well-maintained suite to stay in, featuring a private bathroom, kitchen area and studio that they typically share with other musicians in their ensemble.
Days are scheduled as each guest chooses, with the options of walking along the scenic trails or canoeing in the nearby pond. Breakfast is served from 8:30 to 10 a.m. and lunch is set out from 12:30 to 1 p.m. All artists join for dinner in the dining hall promptly at 6:30 p.m.
Tauber and Sherr often observe the different ensembles mingling during meals and sharing musical insight with one another.
“This way the musicians get to know each other and there’s an incredible community that’s created when they’re here,” Sherr said.
It seems the artists agree, often writing in the guest book upon departure that the institute is “the best place in the world” and “it has changed their lives.”
And when it comes to getting people to come back? “I’d say most of it at this point is through word of mouth,” Sherr said. “Facebook has become a good part of it, but I really think it’s because people mostly leave and say, ‘There’s this incredible place, you’ve got to apply,’ and the tentacles are out there so many people now know about us.”
To learn more or apply to stay at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Boscawen, go to avalochfarmmusic.org.
