I’ve always wondered: How on earth did there come to be a serious classical music summer school featuring an internationally recognized and replicated pre-professional chamber music curriculum whose alumni have gone on to play in award-winning chamber ensembles and win principal positions in major orchestras across the world—nestled quietly among the remains of a nineteenth-century shipbuilding village in the rural reaches of Prince Edward County?

And how has it continued for forty years?

I visited on site with Managing and Artistic Director and founder of the program, Meg Hill. A violinist and music teacher, she is also parent to a daughter, Charlotte, who has grown up with Music at Port Milford. Charlotte is not only a pianist and university instructor, but Assistant Director of the summer program.

The location

Meg took me around the campus, pointing out its various features. As we wandered in and out of the buildings, the sounds of classical ensembles rose and fell, accompanying a brilliant view of the lake, and the intricacies of nineteenth-century structures. “This is a lot like many of the County homes of the 1860s. It was actually a full town,” she says, indicating the former general store.

“They made ships here, the big schooners, because the bay is very deep at this point. The foundation is down on our waterfront. They would go back and forth to Rochester.

“I don’t usually tell the kids, but upstairs was a coffin-making factory. They’d use the same lumber to make the coffins and they’d put them down on their carriages here.”

The juxtaposition of the site’s previous and current uses is remarkable. “It’s still pretty rustic,” says Meg, “but this barn is our big space, so we have the chorus in here rehearsing every night and orchestra here in the morning.”

The transformation

Meg explains how it all began. “My mom was born in Dryden, Ontario. And then she married an American. She raised us there because of my dad’s job.

“My grandparents bought a house in Waupoos in the 1950s. That was where I would visit them.

“When they eventually moved into a little flat in Picton, my mom and her family wanted a place for the grandparents and the cousins to gather.” Port Milford was the place.

As her contribution, Meg proposed making a music camp of it.

“So the boys slept in tents down by the water and the girls slept in the house. My mom cooked and did the chorus. I asked a friend to do the orchestra and another friend to do another chamber group. We had 17 of our students, and that was kind of the beginning of it.

“After my mom passed in 2001, I thought, what are we doing here? So I got serious and bought the family out just so that we could run the camp.”

Charlotte notes with pride, “Over the past forty summers, we have actively gathered a socio-economically and culturally diverse student body and staff team to create a healthy learning environment for all.”

“It was about 50-50 Canadian and American students for a long time. And then it started skewing Canadian,” notes Meg. We try to keep a mix of the faculty, for different ideas, schools of thought and approaches. We still have some U.S students if faculty bring their own students or if they want to study with a particular teacher.”

“We cobble along,” says Meg. “We have Charitable Organization status, which has been really helpful. It’s run by a volunteer board of alumni, alumni parents, and local enthusiasts. We have a robust scholarship program for the kids.”

Charlotte adds, “we are engaging in major donor-funded infrastructure upgrades to prepare us for the next 40 years of music making! We have just recently finished building new practice spaces, funded by the Huff Family Fund and we received a multi-year grant for 2025-2027 from the County Foundation’s County Arts Fund.”

The program runs a week of junior camp for ages 10-13, followed by a three-week session for teens. All apply by audition the preceding fall. Of course, in addition to rigorous ensemble work with faculty mentors (some of the most well-known and established chamber musicians in North America), it is also a summer camp with swimming, campfires and s’mores. There is also a choral day camp in Bloomfield for local elementary students.

And it is not just training. Students offer public performances both on site and around the County, including a day of street performances in Picton and Wellington. Meanwhile the tireless faculty have their own ensemble concerts, three Saturdays in a row at St. Mary Magdalene.

Public performances are currently underway, concluding on August 2nd. For full information about Music at Port Milford, including concert tickets, visit musicatportmilford.org.