CAMDEN — They came from as far away as Australia and Tulsa, Houston and Canada, more than 80 of them, many carrying their treasured instruments with them, the large, handsome stringed harps that evoke harmony and poetry as they are played.

It was a special reunion of the students who attended the Salzedo Harp Colony, and a tribute to its leaders, Carlos Salzedo and Alice Chalifoux. Throughout the weekend, the former students laughed, sometimes cried, and for the people of the Midcoast, they performed.

“Today, we give back to you, a thank-you concert for sharing your amazing corner of the world and being so supportive for over 70 years,” said John Carrington, who is Principal Harpist with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and The Auburn Symphony, in Seattle. He is also an alumni of the Summer Harp Colony.

He cited the July 16, 1945 New York Time’s designation of Camden as the “Harp Center of the Universe.”

Carrington spoke at the Camden Public Library Amphitheatre Sunday afternoon, July 14, welcoming an audience assembled along the shady edges of the Amphitheatre. They perched on on old stone walls, relaxed in chairs, or moved around the perimeter to watch and listen to the harpists.

Despite the blistering heat, there was a light breeze and the tall trees around the library and amphitheatre lent a soothing coolness to the afternoon. It was an scene to similar concerts held during the summer months at the Amphitheater for much of the 20th Century, and into the 21st Century.

After the Colony closed in 2001, it faded into local memory, but not in local history, and certainly not in the minds of loyal harp students, many who went on to enjoy their own distinguished musical careers.

In earlier decades, the harpists would be dressed in long white dresses, their arms modestly covered; on Sunday, the women were in summer dresses, the men in shirtsleeves. But their sense of artistic discipline and attention to their beautiful wooden instruments was impeccable.

At one time, the Salzedo Harp Colony was a major part of Camden’s musical arts legacy, threaded to Europe’s heritage of classical training. Its founder, Carlos Salzedo, was born in 1885 in France, studied piano and harp, and graduated from the Paris Conservatoire at age 16. He found his way to the U.S. in the early 1900s and taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. His biography is renowned, painting a life immersed in music, culture, New York City society, and a fierce commitment to advancing the art of the harp.

In 1924, he joined the Curtis Institute of Music, which had been funded by Mary Louise Curtis Bok, and which migrated with musicians to Camden during the hot summer months.

Salzedo established the Summer Harp Colony in Camden in 1931, and from then on, there were stories and music, and the sound of harps by the water for decades. 

“To play like an angel, you have to work like the devil,” he was quoted as saying, and he ran a tight ship.

“He sought to establish the harp as a commanding 20th Century instrument, and not its stereotype of a Victorian parlor instrument,” said Carrington. “Students, almost all who regarded him as a taskmaster, were nonetheless grateful for the opportunity to study with a teacher who demanded their utmost, and whose own playing served as an impeccable standard.”

Salzedo died in 1961, but not before passing his legacy on to Alice Chalifoux, who continued the summer colony until 2001. She died in 2008 at the age of 100.

It was Alice Chalifoux whom most of the students returning for the reunion remembered. A sprinkling had studied under Salzedo, but many had trained with Chalifoux, and there were stories to relive.

“She was a former student and colleague of Salzedo and was the second female to be hired in a U.S. orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra,” said Carrington. “She had strict standards, with six to eight hours of daily practice expected.”

She also had a magnetic personality, and a wicked sense of humor, he said. And, she enjoyed watching Angela Lansbury in “Murder She Wrote.”

“We absolutely adored her,” he said, recounting stories that brought smiles and laughter from the audience, as well as the assembled three rows of women and men with their harps, the Salzedo Harp Colony alumni ensemble, who were ready to play.

Alice Chalifoux picked up the mantel as Salzedo’s successor. 

“The third factor in the school’s success is the location,” said Carrington. “Camden was the perfect setting for nature, inspiration and recreation and the townspeople were hospitable in opening their homes to up to 60 students per summer and let us fill the streets with the sound of our practicing. It was a groundbreaking formative experience in our lives.”