Welcome to the Castleman Quartet Program

Founded by Charles Castleman in 1970, this unique summer program will be held in Fredonia, NY and Laramie, WY in the summer of 2026.  Laramie has been recognized as the #1 small college town in America.  Additionally, the performance facilities at Mason, the Music Building for SUNY, are better than at most better-known conservatories.  Applicants are encouraged to take a virtual tour of the campuses by visiting the sites below: 

​

​

​

At the Castleman Quartet Program each 3 week participant will learn “from scratch” and perform a complete String Quartet, Quintet or Sextet, as well as a 7-10 minute solo work. That work can be a Concerto movement, 2 contrasting Bach movements, or a virtuosic cameo- an ideal preparation for solo competition or college auditions. If participating in Sonata Week at Fredonia, additionally one will learn and be coached by  collaborative masters on a complete Sonata, performing all or part of it.

​

CQP’s schedule is partially structured as a sample organized workday, and partially unstructured to allow each participant to discover the most effective conditions for his or her optimum progress.  Each ensemble, assembled and assigned by Charles Castleman, remains intact for the duration of the session, with all the CQP faculty involved in teaching verbal and non-verbal communication and the principles of Group Dynamics, and mediating problem resolution.

 

Accepting only 36 applicants in a given season, CQP’s success rate is unique.  CQP counts among its past participants 46 alumni in groups with a permanent university residency. There are 22 active professional chamber groups with more than one CQP alumnus/member, and 108 such groups with one CQP alumnus.  86 orchestras have at least one principal player who attended CQP.

​

CQP alumni are in groups featured on the covers of Vogue and Strad magazines, and in a group sponsored by Thomastik (makers of Vision, Infeld and Dominant strings).  There is a VP of Deutsche Bank, a doctor who discovered a cure for a previously always fatal genetic disease, and an executive of Legal Aid in the San Francisco area.  CQP alumni have become directors and writers of such TV shows as “Seinfeld” and “Desperate Housewives”.  Some have emerged as producers for the most important recording companies, and more than 20 alumni have become directors of their own arts programs.

 

CQP’s record of success is self-perpetuating.  Its alumni are excited to help younger colleagues who shared the CQP experience.

 

​

​

​​