Who We Are

Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley

Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley was born from a desire to give back.

Caitlin Lynch, Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley’s Founder and Artistic Director, grew up in the Willamette Valley. She was a student in the Salem-Keizer Public Schools, where she was fortunate to be nurtured and inspired by phenomenal music teachers - from string orchestra and band, to choir, symphony orchestra, and jazz choir - and a community that valued the arts. Decades after singing “It’s Ruff Being A Dog” in her 3rd grade choir, Caitlin, now a Grammy Award-winning violist and Juilliard graduate, wanted to celebrate, honor, and give back to the music educators, public schools, and Willamette Valley community that impacted her life so profoundly. In 2016, she launched Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley. 

Currently in its eighth season, Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley was created to celebrate and support school music programs in the Willamette Valley. Connecting students with extraordinary, dynamic performers, Project Chamber Music hosts annual visits to the middle and high school orchestras of the Salem-Keizer Public Schools. Project Chamber Music artists perform for the students in their classrooms, engage in workshops with their orchestras, and answer questions from the students about life as performing musicians. Project Chamber Music artists also open their own rehearsal doors to the students and community at large. These public rehearsals provide an opportunity to step into the rehearsal process and get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the collaborative spirit of music-making, as well as the essential non-musical skills necessary for success: listening deeply to others, teamwork, empathy, effective communication, and working toward a common goal even when ideas differ. Project Chamber Music also understands that, while hearing and seeing are essential to any learning process, doing is paramount. For this reason, every year, students from each high school have the opportunity to rehearse and perform together with Project Chamber Music artists in their annual concert at Salem’s historic Elsinore Theatre. Every year, 100% of the proceeds from these concerts are donated back to the orchestra programs of the Salem-Keizer Public Schools. To date, Project Chamber Music has donated nearly $25,000 - funds that have been used to provide private lessons for students for whom the cost would be otherwise prohibitive. 

“Project Chamber Music: Willamette Valley is a game changer. Through this program, students in Salem and Keizer are treated to an up close and personal look at world-class musicians. During the quartet's school visits, our students have the opportunity to play with and for them. We are so grateful for the inspiration and support that they provide to our aspiring musicians. In addition, if that were not enough, the funds that are raised through [their] concert[s] will be donated to the district's orchestra program to help provide scholarship assistance for private lessons to students that otherwise could not afford the instruction.”

Mary Lou Boderman
Coordinator of Music and Drama, Salem-Keizer Public Schools 2011-2020