Pops Summer Camp 2020

In 2018 the Pops Orchestra initiated a “Camping with the Pops” summer orchestra program for instrumental music students in Manatee and Sarasota Counties. The camp provides students with a week-long the opportunity to play “popular” style music alongside the Pops Orchestra’s professional and community music makers, culminating with a concert at the SCF Neel Performing Arts Center. 

For two summers this program flourished. Then, as COVID-19 spread prohibited musicians and audience members to gather, the Pops turned the would-be camp into a summer private lesson program. Forty-two students from Manatee and Sarasota Counties received five, hour long private lessons from Pops Orchestra section leaders. These private lessons, provided free to the students, were given over the Internet using Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, and other online platforms. 

Watch the video to see many of our campers who participated in the 2020 version of “Camping With the Pops”.