Our history

The Young Musicians' Camp was established in the summer of 2000 at the Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music at University of Miami, co-directed by Simon Salz and Sarah Neham Salz. The camp is open to instrumentalists and vocalists ages 6-18.

The mission of the Young Musicians' Camp is to provide a musical experience of the highest quality to elementary through senior high school aged children. Recognizing the unlimited potential of all children when nurtured in a rich environment, the camp strives to bring together children from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural, and financial backgrounds to share in the joy of making music.

Over the years, the camp has expanded, growing in enrollment, and adding new programs and additional talented faculty. Bus transportation to/from Miami-Dade and Broward counties has been added, and students traveling from out-of-state and overseas to participate in the camp are housed in supervised teen dormitories on the University of Miami campus.

One of the camp's directors, Simon Salz, sadly passed away in November 2005, aged 50. A talented musician, guitar virtuoso, performer and teacher, Simon taught and inspired many musicians, both young and old. He will be greatly missed at the camp and by all who knew him.

Sarah Neham Salz, Simon's wife of 27 years, and co-director, continues to run the camp. Sarah, a professional musician, pianist and harpsichordist, continues to operate Simon Salz Productions, a music booking group, providing performance opportunities for the Camp’s talented faculty and alumni. In the summer of 2010 she became a certified Suzuki Piano Teacher Trainer and during the school year, has a large studio of young piano students. She has been responsible for the organization of the camp since its inception. Together with the talented faculty and enthusiastic high school and college age assistants who are also musicians, Sarah has assembled a team to provide young musicians with a valuable experience they will not forget.