“Ravinia is the oldest music festival in North America and summer home of the Chicago Symphony,” Kyle explains. “I feel so lucky to be continually learning from Hinano and her team and applying what I’ve learned to Caroga Arts.”

In 2017, Caroga Arts Collective hosted a series of concerts and events aimed at reviving the town’s historic Sherman’s Amusement Park. Two years later, owner George Abdella generously donated the Sherman property to the organization. Caroga Arts is thriving today thanks to its inspired Board of Directors, Advisory Council, sixteen staff members, and dozens of community volunteers.

Kyle credits his entrepreneurial family for much of his success. In 1992, his mother, violist Deborah Barrett Price, founded the Chamber Music Connection, a nonprofit organization in Worthington, Ohio, designed to provide “education, service and performance opportunities to students of all ages and skill levels.” Awarded the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Award for Extraordinary Service to Chamber Music in 2018, Debbie returns to Caroga Lake each summer to collaborate with her kids and serve as Artistic Advisor.

Equally innovative, violist Stephanie Price-Wong, Kyle’s older sister, is a founding resident artist of the Caroga Lake Music Festival and a founding member, along with Kyle, of the award-winning KASA Quartet. Since 2006, Stephanie has taught students of all levels, and for a decade she served as Artistic Director and Fellowship Program Director for her mother’s Chamber Music Connection. Recently, as Caroga Arts’ Associate Executive Director and Director of Education and Community Engagement, Stephanie developed the String Project & Arts Collaborative Education, an inspired and much needed program aimed at bringing string instruments back into Fulton and Montgomery County schools. Since January 2024, Stephanie and her husband, YouTube “Rock Star” violinist David Wong, have provided afterschool string instruction to 40+ eager students in numerous local schools.

“Stephanie has done an amazing job of conceptualizing this program and putting it in action,” says Kyle. “Growing up, we definitely learned how to multi-task. Our mom involved us in her Chamber Music Connection, asking our opinions and having us help organize performance groups and programs. There were entrepreneurs on my father’s side, too, so by the time we went out on our own, tapping into that entrepreneurial spirit was easier because we’d grown up around it.” 

Locally, the family’s innovative musical legacy actually began in 1968 when Kyle’s maternal grandparents—the Reverend Richard E. Barrett and his wife, Joyce Skinner Barrett—arrived at Calvary Episcopal Church, Burnt Hills, with youngsters Geoffrey, Connie, and Debbie. During his 24-year tenure, Father Barrett tirelessly promoted community outreach and inclusiveness, even cofounding Community Human Services. An accomplished musician, he coordinated classical fundraising concerts in 1973 to refurbish Calvary’s historic tracker action pipe organ and, later, founded the highly popular Community Concert Series.

Kyle’s aunt, Dr. Constance Barrett, was a cellist, teacher, and orchestra director at Greenwich Middle School, CT. Connie was thrilled to participate in Caroga Lake Music Festival’s inaugural season but, sadly, passed away the following year. And Kyle’s grandmother—affectionately called ‘Grandma Joyce’ by festival musicians —has been an active participant since day one. She not only hosted that very first group of musicians in 2012 but, subsequently, had an addition built on her home to better accommodate her many summer guests.

“At one point, people were sleeping in every possible bed, plus a recliner—and even the floor!” Joyce fondly recalls. “At times, we’d have 20-30 people eating here. But everything worked out, and we had a lot of fun. I have wonderful, wonderful memories of those times.”

The matriarch’s musical roots go deep. “In college, our nursing school chorus sang with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Years later, Dick and I were thrilled to sing with Eugene Ormandy at SPAC with Albany’s Capitol Hill Chorale Society. We’ve always been a musical family. Our son, Geof, enjoys improvising on the flute. He and his wife, Karen, are professional Bridge players, living in South Dakota.” 

Joyce gives a big shout-out to her son-in-law, Tim. “Tim isn’t a musician, but he’s absolutely wonderful, always helping out with everything. One of my favorite family photographs shows Debbie, Stephanie, and David holding their instruments—with Tim holding a radio.”

Sherman's Amusement Park in its heyday.

Joyce Barrett, aka Grandma Joyce, whose gracious hospitality made everything possible.

The Reverend Richard E. Barrett, Calvary Episcopal Church, Burnt Hills, NY