Courtesy / Camden Real Estate
Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School bought High Mountain Hall in Camden to be its permanent location.
Updated: May 23, 2022
Midcoast music school buys its first home
Courtesy / Tara Rice, Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School
The Westerlies brass quartet helped open Bay Chamber’s 2021 Screen Door Festival.
After more than 60 years of offering concerts and music education in the midcoast region, a Rockport arts organization has bought its first permanent home in neighboring Camden.
Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School bought 5 Mountain St. from Meg Sideris for $1.352 million.
The list price was $1.395 million.
Known as High Mountain Hall, the 6,500-square-foot structure dates back 175 years and is one of Camden's oldest community buildings, according to marketing materials.
Originally built as a church, it was converted into the Farmers Union and Collective in 1924 until Sideris undertook its renovation in 2007 with the help of architect Christopher Glass and Cold Mountain Builders.
The building subsequently operated as a center for health and well-being and was used for events, wellness classes and alternative medicine. It houses a commercial test kitchen, full sprinkler system, elevator and a grand staircase created by Rockport Steel. On-site parking includes approximately 21 spaces.
Scott Horty, president of Camden Real Estate Co., brokered the deal.
Horty said he’s known Sideris and the executive director of Bay Chamber, Monica Kelly, for many years.
He began working with Kelly a couple of years ago to find a permanent location for Bay Chamber. Sideris, he said, had mentioned being interested in selling High Mountain Hall.
The property was on the market for about a year. Although it could easily have been converted into a residential structure, it seemed like a perfect fit for Bay Chamber, he said.
“Now Bay Chamber will continue this process and perfect it for their use and to share the music that will be created and emanate from within their new home,” Horty said.
Rented quarters
Bay Chamber is currently in rented quarters at 18 Central St. in Rockport, in a building known as the Shepherd Block.
Courtesy / Camden Real Estate
The new location is within walking distance of downtown Camden.
Founded in 1960 by two brothers, pianist Andrew Wolf and flutist Thomas Wolf, Bay Chamber was created to model the former Curtis Institute of Music summer music colony in Rockport, according to its website.
The first 25 years were devoted to summer classical concert programs. In 1974, Bay Chamber began offering concerts year-round, adding jazz and world music to its program series.
Over the next 25 years, Bay Chamber, in partnership with the town of Rockport, restored the Rockport Opera House. In addition, Bay Chamber established an annual Young Stars of Maine Prize program for outstanding Maine student musicians. It added educational offerings that culminated in 2010 with the founding of the Bay Chamber Music School. It also developed community engagement programming for those who have limited access to live performance opportunities
Each year, Bay Chamber offers over 20 free performances. At the music school, over 150 lessons are taught each week, along with ensemble and chamber music opportunities.
The organization began in a basement office and moved to its current location when the music school started.
Outgrew its space
A new location was needed because the organization outgrew its current space, said Kelly. When she and artistic director Manuel Bagorro looked at High Mountain Hall, “We realized this was an amazing opportunity,” she said.
Courtesy / Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School
Monica Kelly.
The structure houses a large space that served as a dance and yoga studio and made for an easy transition into a performance space, she said.
Smaller spaces could be used as offices and studios.
Other advantages are that the new location is within walking distance of downtown Camden and the building is handicap-accessible, she noted.
The new space is pretty much double the size of the existing location. A big part of that is a performance hall, which the organization doesn’t have where it is now. Up to now, Bay Chamber has held its concerts at rented venues. The organization will continue to use Rockport Opera House, which has been the home of the Bay Chamber Concert Series for 40 years.
Bay Chamber is working with Barba + Wheelock Architects in Portland on renovations, which are on track to start in June. That will include extensive soundproofing and renovations of studios and offices.
“The hall requires almost nothing,” Kelly said. “It’s acoustically beautiful and a nice, big, open space [and] no problems with sight lines.”
Courtesy / Camden Real Estate
The building houses a large hall that will be turned into a performance space.
Renovations, expected to cost about $3 million on top of the purchase price, are expected to take about a year.
Yoga and dance classes that operated under the previous ownership will continue once the renovations are complete, said Kelly.
The deal was financed by Bangor Saving Bank, which also manages Bay Chamber’s endowment.
Bay Chamber is in the early stage of a capital campaign to fund renovations. Initial gifts have come in. Kelly would not disclose the capital goal.
The new performance hall will allow Bay Chamber to do a lot more small-scale programming, while keeping the concert series at the opera house.
“It gives us an alternative venue” for traditional chamber music as well as contemporary music, she said.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to experiment,” she said.
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