Who We Are

Since joining Caramoor in November 2016 in a newly-created role, Kathy Schuman has expanded the overall creative vision of the year-round concert season, overseeing the artistic program and production of all public concerts and related activities. Previously she was Artistic Administrator of Carnegie Hall, where she helped program its three venues in a wide variety of musical genres. During her 15-year tenure at Carnegie, she was deeply involved in the opening of Zankel Hall in 2003, which led to an expansion of the hall’s presentations to include significantly more new music, early music, jazz, world, and folk. As the primary coordinator of Carnegie’s robust commissioning program, she oversaw approximately 200 commissions, including new works by David Lang, Kaija Saariaho, John Adams, Brad Mehldau, Nico Muhly, Missy Mazzoli, Meredith Monk, and many others. Directly prior to joining Caramoor, she was Vice President and Artistic Director of G. Schirmer/AMP, managing a roster of Pulitzer, Grammy, Oscar, Tony and Emmy-winning composers.

Kathy began her career in arts management at Frank Salomon Associates, where she worked both as an artist manager and as Coordinator of the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. She moved to Europe in 1994, where she was the Managing Director of the European Chamber Music Association (Bremen), Administrator of the Contemporary Music Network at the Arts Council of England, and then Associate Director of Intermusica Artist Management (London), where she managed artists and programmed the International Chamber Music Season at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, in addition to other concert presentations throughout London.

A native New Yorker, Kathy has been a lifelong choral singer, with a love of music instilled at an early age from her father, a professional oboist, and her mother, a book designer and opera-lover. She’s also a gourmet home cook, avid world traveler, weekend cyclist, cinephile, and theater enthusiast.

Tammy Belanger is currently the Vice President, Chief Financial Officer for Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, a premiere cultural institution that enriches the lives of its audiences through innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality, mentors young professional musicians, and engages young children through interactive, educational experiences that deepen their relationship to and understanding of music. Ms. Belanger began working at Caramoor as an intern to the Managing Director in 1995, while earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music Management from Manhattanville College. Over the next nine years she learned the operation from the ground up while obtaining a Masters degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from the University of Phoenix. Shortly after completing her studies, she was promoted to the head of the finance department.

As CFO for the past nine years, she successfully upgraded Caramoor’s financial systems from a small, rudimentary nonprofit to one that matches the excellence of the internationally acclaimed performances Caramoor presents on stage. Through Belanger’s planning and management, Caramoor has regularly come in under its expense budget, which has raised the confidence of the entire staff and board of trustees. Working in a nonprofit requires a tremendous amount of personnel skills to train others in finances, help them manage extremely limited resources and navigate an exponentially growing number of complex regulations imposed on nonprofit organizations. Belanger has accomplished all of that.

Originally from Maine, Ms. Belanger and her two children, Justin and Jessica, reside in Carmel, NY.

Tracy Tajbl brings over two decades of national development experience to her role as Vice President and Chief Development Officer. Prior to joining Caramoor, she served as assistant dean for advancement for the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Syracuse University.  During her time at Syracuse, Tracy secured significant gifts to support scholarships and programming for visual art, music, drama, and design students; played a crucial role in diversifying the College’s advisory council, and launched a young alumni leadership group.

Prior to Syracuse University, Tracy held leadership positions in development for a variety of arts and cultural organizations, including the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, the Colorado Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony.  She was a vice president at Community Counselling Service (CCS,) a national fundraising consultancy. During her time at CCS, she served as campaign counsel to the Nashville Symphony, playing a key role in raising $123 million to build the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. That campaign earned the 2007 Association of Fundraising Professionals International Award for fundraising excellence and innovation. 

Tracy has a special interest in mentoring younger professionals and has created and delivered training sessions for fundraisers on a variety of topics.  She served on the faculty for the Emerging Leaders in Development Program at the University of Denver and has presented educational sessions at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Conference in Washington, D.C., and at OPERA America. As a member of the Community Counseling Service (CCS) training faculty, she created several masters level courses. Building on her experience in prospect identification and research, Tracy has presented in WealthEngine’s national webinar series. 

An alumna of Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in art history, Tracy can be found enjoying theater, concerts, and dance performances; visiting museums; unearthing treasures at used book stores; or enjoying the great outdoors in her spare time. 

Tahra Delfin joined Caramoor in December 2013 as Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Prior to Caramoor, Tahra worked as Director of Marketing for Westport Country Playhouse, a 500+ seat subscription-based house located in Westport, CT. Her previous positions include serving as Sr. Director of Strategic Marketing for the corporate offices of Blue Man Group where she developed Blue Man Group’s digital marketing and communications arm supporting Blue Man’s theatrical productions across the globe. Tahra also served as Director of Development and Marketing at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She oversaw a $3 million fundraising budget and managed strategic communications and marketing efforts. Tahra began her career working for the Broadway industry. At the Broadway League, the national trade association for the commercial theatre industry, she spearheaded the industry’s first economic recovery campaign stemming from the events of September 11, 2001 and established the industry’s first multilingual website. Tahra also worked for an Omnicom-owned entertainment advertising agency, Serino Coyne, where she continued her work in developing industry-wide projects and sales promotions.

Since 2009, Tahra has served as an adjunct professor teaching Arts & Entertainment Marketing at Columbia Business School. She earned her B.F.A. in Drama from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and an M.A. from the Program in Arts Administration at Teachers College, Columbia University. While at Teachers College, she served as the Enid Morse Fellow focusing on education marketing and evaluation at Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Tahra is a classically trained actor and Opera singer residing in Carmel, New York.