(March 2024)— Caramoor’s spectacular open-air venues, intimate indoor spaces, and world-renowned artists make it the perfect destination for gathering outdoors with friends and family to celebrate and be renewed by the dynamic power of music and the arts. The 2024 summer season kicks off with a gala performance by longtime Caramoor friend Wynton Marsalis with his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (June 22). Two large-scale movement-centered events are featured at Caramoor this season: a new street-dance-infused production of Purcell’s The Fairy Queen from Les Arts Florissants led by William Christie and choreographed by Mourad Merzouki, and the Caramoor debut of the Mark Morris Dance Group. The Knights and Aaron Diehl give their first complete live performance of Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite following their recent lauded recording; two concerts with Orchestra of St. Luke’s feature guitarist Miloš and pianist Jeremy Denk; and Cleveland period ensemble Apollo’s Fire performs a program of Vivaldi and Handel led by Jeannette Sorrell. The Sphinx Virtuosi present music by a vital group of contemporary Black and Latinx composers, much of it written for them; “Our Song, Our Story: The New Generation of Black Voices” with music director Damien Sneed honors the legacies of Marian Anderson and Jessye Norman; and the free world premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo’s community project THE JUMP UP! features Sandbox Percussion and collaborating local percussionists. The Concerts on the Lawn series features Grammy winners Roomful of Teeth and Time For Three, Cuban cuatro sensation Kiki Valera, and Zimbabwean Afrofusion band Mokoomba; chamber performances include the Calidore String Quartet and harpist Bridget Kibbey, the Abeo Quartet, and Owls, plus solo recitals from violinist Kevin Zhu and pianists Richard Goode, Joyce Yang, and Clayton Stephenson. The annual Jazz Festival features the already storied young pianist and bandleader Matthew Whitaker; and Grammy winner Madison Cunningham headlines the American Roots Music Festival. Roots events later in the summer showcase the Lost Bayou Ramblers and Rhiannon Giddens; Broadway star Sutton Foster gives a solo performance; special events celebrate Pride with drag artist Jasmine Rice LaBeija and Juneteenth with Charles Turner & Uptown Swing; three Music & Meditation in the Garden events are held in the Sunken Garden; fireworks return on the Fourth of July along with the annual Pops, Patriots & Fireworks concert; and the Sonic Innovations sound art installation features the debut of Stephan Moore’s Promenade and Senem Pirler’s Seismic Grief, along with seven returning pieces.
Edward J. Lewis III, Caramoor’s President and Chief Executive Officer, elaborates:
“Over the course of its storied 79-year history, which has seen periods of seismic societal shifts and upheavals, the Caramoor experience is timeless, remaining constant in its delivery of transformative live music performances that resonate with audiences and artists of the day. You can always count on Caramoor to be your artistic summer sanctuary.”
Kathy Schuman, Caramoor’s Artistic Director, adds:
“The unique Caramoor setting continues to inspire and inform our programs, from world-class celebrated artists to rising stars, in a multitude of genres. As these genres continue to expand, I’m particularly excited about two dance-centered performances: Mark Morris Dance Group and Purcell’s The Fairy Queen. We pride ourselves on the breadth and diversity of the musical experiences we bring to our community over the summer season.”
Caramoor is dedicated to presenting music as a collective cultural heritage, with a deeply held belief in the transformative power of live music. As BBC Music Magazine has said, it’s “a year-round powerhouse of cultural activity.”
Summer Gala: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Kicking off the summer, Caramoor celebrates its 10-year collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center with virtuoso jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Wynton Marsalis (June 22), who performs with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Sometimes called the “Pied Piper” of jazz, Marsalis’s astonishing career has encompassed the release of 127 jazz, classical, and alternative recordings, while his passion for education and the legacy of jazz has led him to become Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School, President of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Managing and Artistic Director.
Opera and Dance
Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, Mark Morris Dance Group
Pioneering Baroque ensemble Les Arts Florissants, under the direction of its founder and co-music director William Christie, offers its new production of Purcell‘s semi-opera The Fairy Queen this summer, following a rave reception of the piece last fall at New York’s Lincoln Center. French-Algerian choreographer and stage director Mourad Merzouki, known for his fusion of classical influence and contemporary innovation, has created a movement-centered scenario for the opera in which the boundaries between singers, dancers, and musicians become blurred, much like the real and magical realms are in Shakespeare’s original Midsummer Night’s Dream, on which the opera is based. The performance includes soloists from Le Jardin des Voix, Les Arts Florissants’ academy for young singers, as well as dancers from Merzouki’s Lyon-based Compagnie Käfig and The Juilliard School. According to the New York Times, “this Fairy Queen connects the dots between Purcell and street dance,” with “music and movement blended to stunning effect” (July 20).
Complementing The Fairy Queen’s juxtaposition of Baroque music and contemporary movement, Caramoor also welcomes the Mark Morris Dance Group for the first time this summer. The evening comprises four pieces with choreography by Morris: Italian Concerto with music by J.S. Bach, Candleflowerdance with music by Igor Stravinsky, Excursions with music by Samuel Barber, and Words with music by Felix Mendelssohn. The MMDG Music Ensemble performs the live accompaniment (Aug 1).
Orchestras
The Knights with Aaron Diehl; Orchestra of St. Luke’s with Miloš and Jeremy Denk
More Baroque music is in store with a performance in the Venetian Theater by famed Cleveland period ensemble Apollo’s Fire, led by Artistic Director and harpsichordist Jeannette Sorrell (July 28). Their program, “Storms and Tempests,” combines Vivaldi’s Four Seasons featuring violinist Alan Choo with “tempestuous arias” from Vivaldi and Handel operas, performed by soprano Amanda Forsythe, an alumna of Caramoor’s Bel Canto Young Artist program.
The Knights and conductor Eric Jacobsen return to Caramoor with pianist Aaron Diehl to perform Zodiac Suite by Mary Lou Williams, a landmark work of classical-jazz fusion by one of the most influential jazz composers of the 20th century. Each movement of the suite is titled for an astrological sign and reflects one of the composer’s colleagues born under it, like Billie Holiday (Aries), Duke Ellington (Taurus), and Thelonious Monk (Libra). Last year, Diehl and the orchestra released the first fully-fledged professional recording of the piece – a disc that was declared “a triumph” by The Guardian – and this concert marks their first full live performance of it (June 30). Rounding out the concert is Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony, and there will be a pre-concert conversation with Aaron Diehl, Eric Jacobsen, and Colin Jacobsen at 3 pm.
Montenegrin guitarist Miloš, who BBC Music Magazine numbered among “Six of the Best Classical Guitarists of the past century,” performs the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s – celebrated for its “exceptionally fine and committed music-making” (New York Times). Led by conductor Xian Zhang, Music Director of the New Jersey Symphony and Principal Guest Conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra also performs Primal Message by American composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and the program concludes with Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, written in the final years of the composer’s life. There will be a pre-concert conversation with Miloš at 3:00pm before the 4:00pm performance (July 14).
Orchestra of St. Luke’s returns for a second program in August, welcoming Jeremy Denk – “an artist you want to hear no matter what he performs” (New York Times) – for a performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, along with Dvořak’s Eighth Symphony and Ballade by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Thomas Wilkins, Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Music Director Laureate of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, makes his Caramoor debut leading the program. A pre-concert conversation with Thomas Wilkins begins at 3 pm.
New Music
Sandbox Percussion, Sphinx Virtuosi, Owls
The world premiere of Douglas J. Cuomo’s THE JUMP UP! is performed by Caramoor favorites Sandbox Percussion, but with the intention of involving the audience as active participants, the piece will include volunteer percussionists from the local community. The free outdoor performance will have the musicians roaming through Caramoor’s Sunken Garden, with the audience encouraged to move around freely. Percussionists interested in taking part can register at caramoor.org and will have a two-hour rehearsal with Sandbox on the morning of the concert. Cuomo explains: “Making music together, and particularly drumming, creates such deep and powerful connections for everyone involved. The whole point of this piece is to have as many people as possible experience that connection, by bringing together Sandbox, the volunteer players, and the audience, so that some joyful magic can happen.” A pre-concert conversation with Douglas J. Cuomo will begin at 3 pm before the 4 pm performance (July 21).
Sphinx Virtuosi is a dynamic and inspiring self-conducted string orchestra – comprising some of the nation’s top young Black and Latinx professional musicians – that serves as the flagship performing entity of the Sphinx Organization, the leading social justice non-profit dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Their Caramoor debut features cellist Tommy Mesa, the recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s 2023 Medal of Excellence. The group’s “Generations” program, named after a work by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, also includes music by some of today’s most compelling Black and Latinx composers: Quenton Xavier Blache, Javier Farias, Andrea Casarrubios, Adolphus Hailstork, and Jessie Montgomery. A pre-concert conversation with members of Sphinx Virtuosi begins at 3 pm before the 4 pm performance (July 7).
Owls is a new “quartet collective” made up of violinist Alexi Kenney, violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Gabriel Cabezas, and cellist-composer Paul Wiancko and dubbed a “dream group” by the New York Times. Their Caramoor program features works by Wiancko, Terry Riley, Chick Corea, the folk-inspired new music duo Trollstilt, Azerbaijani composer and pianist Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, and François Couperin (July 11).
Chamber Music and Recitals
Our Song, Our Story with Damien Sneed; Bridget Kibbey & Calidore String Quartet; Abeo Quartet; pianists Richard Goode, Joyce Yang and Clayton Stephenson; & more
Created and directed by composer, conductor, and multi-genre musician Damien Sneed, the showcase “Our Song, Our Story: The New Generation of Black Voices” pays homage to the legacies of operatic legends Marian Anderson and Jessye Norman. Soprano Jacqueline Echols McCarley, baritone Justin Austin, and the Griot String Quartet join Sneed to perform works by African American composers past and present, including Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, and Sneed himself – plus works by Copland, Puccini, Gershwin, and Strauss (July 25).
Harpist Bridget Kibbey is joined by the Calidore String Quartet, credited with “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct” (New York Times) and alumni of Caramoor’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence program, to perform a program titled “The Sacred and the Profane” in the Spanish Courtyard. Known for a charismatic advocacy for her instrument that made Vogue call her “the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp,” Kibbey created and narrates the collaborative program, which explores French masterworks of the Belle Époque by Debussy, Fauré, Ravel, and Caplet and how their music changed assumptions about how the harp should be used (July 5).
Caramoor’s 2023-24 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence (ESSQIR), the Abeo Quartet – whose name is an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect – completes its yearlong residency of community engagement and concerts with a performance that includes the world premiere of a Caramoor commission by Jessica Mays (June 27). A composer, pianist, and songwriter based in New York City and her hometown of Denver, Colorado, Mays’s music draws inspiration from the worlds of jazz, pop, contemporary classical, and avant-garde. The program is rounded out with works by Joaquín Turina, Erwin Schulhoff, and Rhiannon Giddens, who also gives a performance at Caramoor later in the summer with her band.
With a reputation as one of the world’s foremost Beethoven interpreters, pianist Richard Goode presents a program of the composer’s three final piano sonatas, No. 30 in E, No. 31 in A-flat, and No. 32 in C minor, in the Venetian Theater (Aug 2). As the New York Times says: “It is virtually impossible to walk away from one of Mr. Goode’s recitals without the sense of having gained some new insight, subtle or otherwise, into the works he played or about pianism itself.”
Grammy-nominated pianist Joyce Yang, hailed for her “poetic and sensitive pianism” (Washington Post) and a “wondrous sense of color” (San Francisco Classical Voice), performs an all-Russian program in the Spanish Courtyard. Selections from Tchaikovsky’s Les saisons are paired with three of Rachmaninoff’s Op. 32 Preludes – including No. 10 in B minor, inspired by Arnold Böcklin’s painting “Die Heimkehr” (“The Homecoming”) and the composer’s personal favorite – and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (July 19).
On June 23, Caramoor’s Chamber Feast presents alumni of the Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program – violinists Claire Bourg and Stephanie Zyzak, violist Tanner Menees and Zhanbo Zheng, cellist Oliver Herbert and pianist Janice Carissa – in Mendelssohn’s String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat with Brahms Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor.
A new series that began last summer, Recitals in the Music Room comprises hour-long programs on Saturdays in the late afternoon that feature young classical instrumentalists on the rise. American violinist Kevin Zhu, a Paganini Competition and Avery Fisher Career Grant winner praised for his “awesome technical command and maturity” (The Strad), begins the series this summer with pianist Maxim Lando in a program of Ravel, Ysaÿe, Lili Boulanger and Franz Waxman titled “Emigres” (July 13). Pianist Clayton Stephenson, “not just a remarkable virtuoso, but a poet, a dramatist and a master story-teller” (Gramophone) and the first Black finalist at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, performs a program ranging from Albéniz and Stravinsky to Gershwin and Art Tatum (Aug 3).
American Roots Music and Jazz Festivals; Rhiannon Giddens
Caramoor’s American Roots Music Festival, an all-day celebration of the best in Americana, blues, folk, and bluegrass, returns on June 29, presented in collaboration with City Winery. Headlining the festival this summer is Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham, described by Rolling Stone as putting “a new spin on West Coast folk-rock, with classical tendencies, electric guitars, jazz-school chord changes, and alt-rock strut all living under the same roof,” who performs along with her touring band. Cunningham’s 2019 debut album, Who Are You Now, scored a Grammy nomination for Best Americana Album, while the follow-up, Revealer, written during a challenging period that encompassed the pandemic and the death of her grandmother, won the award in the Best Folk Album category. Americana Highways describes the latter album as “all about saying the quiet part out loud. … While her guitar wizardry and highly underrated voice are ever present, Revealer, full of little bits of introspection and observation, is, thematically and lyrically, her deepest record yet.” Daytime performers in venues throughout the Caramoor grounds include Lizzie No, Solomon Hicks, Fantastic Cat, Poor Monroe, a family set with Hopalong Andrew and more artists to be announced soon.
Caramoor’s annual Jazz Festival returns on July 27, presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center and headlined by young composer, bandleader, and pianist Matthew Whitaker. WBGO declared: “Matthew Whitaker is music. To see and hear him play is to know that divine talent exists. Beyond his innate musical abilities is a sheer joy and passion to create music.” A three-time ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award winner, the 22-year-old pianist has three studio albums as a leader: Outta The Box, Now Hear This, and the 2021 Connections, which Afropop Worldwide called “the work of a seasoned jazz artist … remarkable, beautiful, brilliant.” His fourth recording, On Their Shoulders: An Organ Tribute, an homage to some of his heroes on the instrument, will debut in the summer of 2024. Daytime performers for the Jazz Festival include Italian vocalist and pianist Francesca Tandoi, Boston-based multi-genre harpist Charles Overton, and young Cameroonian-American vocalist Ekep Nkwelle, with more artists to be announced soon.
Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient Rhiannon Giddens and her band perform in the Venetian Theater, focusing on music from her newest album, You’re the One (Aug 3). Known for her spectacular banjo and fiddle playing, passionate vocals, and perceptive songwriting, Giddens is on a mission to lift up those whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased. As Pitchfork says, “few artists are so fearless and so ravenous in their exploration,” and Smithsonian Magazine calls her “an electrifying artist who brings alive the memories of forgotten predecessors, white and black.”
Broadway, Cabaret, Pops
Sutton Foster, Jasmine Rice LaBeija, and more
Two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster returns to Caramoor for a concert in the Venetian Theater (July 13). Recently launched on a 12-week run as Mrs. Lovett in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, the actor, singer, and dancer has performed in 11 other Broadway shows, originating roles in productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Little Women, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, and her Tony Award-winning performances in Anything Goes and Thoroughly Modern Millie. As a solo artist, Foster has performed all over the country and internationally with her musical director, Michael Rafter, singing songs from her solo CDs, Wish and An Evening With Sutton Foster: Live at the Café Carlyle.
On June 13, Caramoor celebrates Pride in collaboration with The LOFT LGBTQ+ Community Center, presenting a special Music Room performance by Juilliard-trained tenor and renowned drag artist Jasmine Rice LaBeija. The International Godmother of the Royal House of LaBeija – recently shouted out by Beyoncé in the “Break My Soul (Queens Remix)” – has sold out the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center, and countless queer clubs around the world. She has been a host of Dragged, which won a Shorty Award in Diversity and Inclusion, and was the face of New York City’s 2020 Pride celebrations. Following the concert will be a rainbow-lit after-party in the Spanish Courtyard.
To celebrate Independence Day, conductor and music director Curt Ebersole and the Westchester Symphonic Winds return to Caramoor for their annual Pops, Patriots, and Fireworks concert. Two guest vocalists – soprano Shelén Hughes and tenor César Andrés Parreño, both alumni of Caramoor’s Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program – will perform patriotic tunes and more, with the concert also including Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever. The evening concludes with a fireworks display on the Caramoor grounds (July 4).
Concerts on the Lawn
Roomful of Teeth, Lost Bayou Ramblers, René Marie, Time For Three, Mokoomba, and more
Caramoor’s “Concerts on the Lawn” are casual, BYOS (bring-your-own-seats) performances on Friends Field, with picnics and dancing encouraged. This season’s roster for the series bridges world music, American Roots, and classical, but the first ensemble, Grammy-winning vocal octet Roomful of Teeth, might be expected to draw on any of those genres. Last heard at Caramoor in 2019, their program this summer pairs three works from their 2023 album Rough Magic by Caroline Shaw (also a member of the group), Peter S. Shin, and William Brittelle with music by Leilehua Lanzilotti and Angélica Negrón. In the words of the Boston Globe: “Experimentation may be this group’s calling card, but its essence is pure joy” (June 28).
Grammy-winning Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers combines the unique energy of Louisiana’s music and culture with the modern sounds and rhythms of punk and psychedelia (July 12). Featured in the 2017 documentary The American Epic Sessions, the band defies easy categorization: they have opened on tour for Arcade Fire and had frequent collaborations with Violent Femmes vocalist and fiddle player Gordon Gano, but at the same time staying true to their traditional Cajun roots.
Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, vocalist René Marie and her touring and recording group Experiment in Truth present “Jump in the Line: The Music and Life of Harry Belafonte.” Marie intersperses calypso tunes made famous by Belafonte with a discussion of his use of music to effect social change. Arrangements are by trumpeter and percussionist Etienne Charles, with the band also including trombonist Andrae Murchison, pianist Xavier Davis, guitarist Dan Wilson, bassist Rodney Jordan, and drummer Quentin E. Baxter (July 18).
Another Concert on the Lawn event features Grammy- and Emmy-winning string trio Time For Three, a self-proclaimed “classically trained garage band” combining classical, Americana, and singer-songwriter styles in which all three members are equally instrumentalists and singers (July 26). Comprising violinist/vocalists Nicolas “Nick” Kendall and Charles Yang and double bassist/vocalist Ranaan Meyer, the charismatic trio inspired a glowing review in The Strad that concluded: “This remarkable group is not to be missed, and its members play (and sing) with joy, mastery, creativity and supreme artistry in all that they do.”
Caramoor celebrates Juneteenth with a free event on Friends Field featuring Charles Turner & Uptown Swing playing music from the 1920s to the present (June 16). Known as the country’s second Independence Day, Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and honors their families, heritage, and resilience. Family-friendly activities round out this annual Caramoor celebration.
Two world music artists are featured in Concerts on the Lawn this summer. Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano (July 6) celebrates a musical genre that originated in the mountains of eastern Cuba and rose in popularity throughout the 20th century. With its Spanish and African origins, call-and-response format, and infectious percussion beats, son cubano was a major influence on many other styles, from mambo and salsa to jazz and cha-cha. Valera, the oldest son of a famous multigenerational musical family, grew up living and breathing the deep-rooted musical traditions of eastern Cuba and is known as one of the world’s greatest players of the Cuban cuatro, a mid-size, eight-stringed guitar.
Mokoomba is a six-piece band from Zimbabwe with an Afrofusion sound blending traditional rhythms and contemporary Zamrock. The band has gained global acclaim since the release of its groundbreaking album Rising Tide in 2012. Vocalist Mathias Muzaza leads the group in songs from its most recent album, TUSONA (Aug 16).
Music & Meditation in the Garden
Promoting mindful listening, the “Music & Meditation in the Garden” series on three Saturday mornings in July and August in the Sunken Garden begins with a meditation led by Jennifer Llewelyn followed by a performance. The unique experience combines deep listening to beautiful music with the surrounding sounds of nature. The first event features cellist Titilayo Ayangade and violist Edwin Kaplan, collectively known as Duo Kayo and committed both to commissioning new works and championing lesser-known pieces from the repertoire (July 6). New Zealand-born violinist Geneva Lewis, a 2022 participant in Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars young artist program, gives a solo performance (July 20), and another Evnin Rising Star alumnus from 2023, violinist Lun Li, is joined by virtuoso accordionist Hanzhi Wang for the final concert in the series (Aug 10).
Soundscapes and Sonic Innovations
The rotating annual Sonic Innovations sound art exhibition, spread throughout Caramoor’s idyllic grounds, is curated by Chicago-based sound artist and Northwestern University professor Stephan Moore. Moore’s own work debuts at Caramoor with this summer’s Promenade, in company with a second new sound art installation, interdisciplinary artist Senem Pirler’s Seismic Grief. Returning works are Dyning in the Dovecote by Liz Phillips, an interactive sound installation stirred into subtle action by the presence and activity of its audience, as well as sunlight and wind; In“C”, a site-specific sound-sculpture commissioned from MacArthur Grant recipient Trimpin; Walter Kitundu’s Nafasi Yako Ni Ya Kijani (“Your Place is Green”); Taylor Deupree’s t(ch)ime; Ranjit Bhatnagar’s Stone Song; Annea Lockwood and Bob Bielecki’s Wild Energy, which takes visitors on a fantastical tour of sounds occurring outside the range of human hearing; and Annea Lockwood’s Piano Garden.
The official opening of Sonic Innovations and the Caramoor grounds will take place at “Soundscapes” on June 9. This annual free event includes a performance by composer Majel Connery and cellist Felix Fan of Connery’s The Rivers are our Brothers, an electronic song cycle on ecological responsibility told from the point of view of the land. Darian Donovan Thomas’s Safe Space installation, as well as a live set featuring the genre-bending composer and multi-instrumentalist along with trombonist Kalia Vandever and guitarist Mike Haldeman, will also be on the schedule. Sound artists Stephan Moore, Senem Pirler, Liz Phillips, Trimpin, Walter Kitundu, Taylor Deupree, Annea Lockwood, Bob Bielecki and Ranjit Bhatnagar will all be on hand interacting with audience members, who can also try their hand at the theremin during workshops with the New York Theremin Society.
Children’s Programming
Last season, Caramoor began a new venture devoted to its youngest demographic: children ages 2–6 (and their caregivers). Taking place Friday mornings at 11:00am in Caramoor’s Education Center, “Concerts for Little Ones” features world-class artists who will invite children to sing and dance to diverse styles of music. First up is passionate educator and trombonist Mariel Bildsten, called “irrepressibly spontaneous” by Downbeat Magazine, who performs along with her trio (July 5). Two-time Grammy Award-winning singer Lucy Kalantari brings jazz-age inspired music to Caramoor, inviting children to sing along (in English and Spanish) to classic children’s songs, swinging originals, and music that highlights the joys of life, community, and resilience (July 12). Percussionist and educator Gabriel Globus-Hoenich, who has worked with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Arturo O’Farrill, and Yuja Wang, also remains committed to his work as a teaching artist. He invites his young audience to join in a lively jam session, playing percussion instruments and dancing along (Aug 2).
Getting to Caramoor
Getting to Caramoor is simple by car or public transportation. All parking is free and close to the performance areas. Handicapped parking is also free and readily available. By car from New York City, take the Henry Hudson Parkway north to the Saw Mill River Parkway north to I-684 north to Exit 6. Go east on Route 35 to the traffic light (0.3 miles). Turn right onto Route 22 south, and travel 1.9 miles to the junction of Girdle Ridge Road where there is a green Caramoor sign. At the junction, veer left and make a quick right onto Girdle Ridge Road. Continue on Girdle Ridge Road 0.5 miles to the Caramoor gates on the right. Approximate drive time is one hour. By train from Grand Central Station, take the Harlem Division Line of the Metro-North Railroad heading to Southeast, and exit at Katonah. Caramoor is a 3.5-mile drive from the Katonah station.
A FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah station to and from Caramoor runs before and after every afternoon and evening concert.
About Caramoor
Caramoor is a cultural arts destination located on a unique 80-plus-acre estate with Italianate architecture and gardens in Northern Westchester County, NY. Its beautiful grounds include the historic Rosen House, a stunning mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Besides enriching the lives of its audiences through innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality, Caramoor mentors young professional musicians and provides music-centered educational programs for young children.
Click here to download high-resolution photos, and here to download Caramoor’s summer brochure.
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Caramoor 2024 Summer Season
All artists and dates are subject to change.
Sun, June 9 at 12:00pm
Caramoor Grounds
Soundscapes
Majel Connery, vocalist & keyboard with Felix Fan, cello
Darian Donovan Thomas, violin with Kalia Vandever, trombone and Mike Haldeman, guitar
Sound Artists: Stephan Moore, Senem Perle, Liz Phillips, Trimpin, Walter Kitundu, Taylor Deupree, Annea Lockwood, Bob Bielecki, Ranjit Bhatnagar
Thu, June 13 at 7:00pm
Music Room
Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Jasmine Rice LaBeija
Presented in Collaboration with The LOFT LBGTQ+ Community Center
Sun, June 16 at 4:00pm
Friends Field
Celebrating Juneteenth
Charles Turner & Uptown Swing
Sat, June 22 at 7:00pm
Venetian Theater
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Sun, June 23 at 4:00pm
Music Room
Chamber Feast
Claire Bourg, violin
Stephanie Zyzak, violin
Tanner Menees, viola
Zhanbo Zheng, viola
Oliver Herbert, cello
Janice Carissa, piano
Felix MENDELSSOHN: String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat, Op. 87
Johannes BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60
Thu, June 27 at 7:00pm
Spanish Courtyard
Abeo Quartet (2023–24 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence)
Joaquin TURINA: La oración del torero, Op. 34
Erwin SCHULHOFF: 5 Pieces for String Quartet
Rhiannon GIDDENS: At the Purchaser’s Option
Jessica MAYS: New Work (world premiere, Caramoor commission)
Sergei PROKOFIEV: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 92 in F
Fri, June 28 at 7:30pm
Friends Field
Roomful of Teeth
Caroline SHAW: The Isle
Leilehua LANZILOTTI: On Stochastic Wave Behavior
Angélica NEGRÓN: Math, the one which is sweet
Peter SHIN: “GaNaDaRaMaBaSa AJaChaKaTaPaHa” (from Bits torn from words)
William BRITTELLE: Psychedelics
Sat, June 29 / All Day
Venetian Theater
American Roots Music Festival
Presented in Collaboration with City Winery
HEADLINER:
Madison Cunningham
DAYTIME ARTISTS (others TBA):
Lizzie No
Solomon Hicks
Fantastic Cat
Poor Monroe
Family Concert: Hopalong Andrew
Sun, June 30 at 4:00pm
Venetian Theater
The Knights & Aaron Diehl
The Knights
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Aaron Diehl, piano
Mary Lou WILLIAMS: Zodiac Suite
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 6 “Pastoral”
Pre-Concert conversation with Aaron Diehl, Eric Jacobsen, and Colin Jacobsen
Thu, July 4 at 8:00pm
Venetian Theater
Pops, Patriots, & Fireworks
Curt Ebersole, conductor/music director
Westchester Symphonic Winds
Shelén Hughes, soprano
César Andrés Parreño, tenor
Fri, July 5 at 11:00am
Education Center
Concert for Little Ones: Mariel Bildsten Trio
Fri, July 5 at 7:30pm
Spanish Courtyard
Calidore String Quartet with Bridget Kibbey, harp
The Sacred and the Profane
Claude DEBUSSY:
Danse sacrée et danse profane
Arabesque No. 1 (trans. Kibbey)
Suite bergamasque: Prélude
Gabriel FAURE: Une châtelaine en sa tour, Op. 110
Maurice RAVEL: String Quartet in F
André CAPLET: Conte fantastique
Sat, July 6 at 11:00am
Sunken Garden
Duo Kayo
Music & Meditation in the Garden
Jennifer Llewellyn, meditation coach
Sat, July 6 at 7:30pm
Friends Field
Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano
Sun, July 7 at 4:00pm
Venetian Theater
Sphinx Virtuosi
Tommy Mesa, cello
Quenton Xavier BLACHE: Habari Gani
Javier FARIAS: Abran Paso
Andrea CASARRUBIOS: Herencia
Adolphus HAILSTORK: “Dona Nobis Pacem” and “Exultate” from Sonata da Chiesa
Jessie MONTGOMERY: Divided
Coleridge-Taylor PERKINSON: Sinfonietta No. 2: Generations
Thu, July 11 at 7:00pm
Spanish Courtyard
Owls
Chick COREA: Children’s Song No. 12
Paul WIANCKO: Vox Petra
Franghiz ALI-ZADEH: Rəqs
François COUPERIN: Les Barricades Mystérieuses
TROLLSTILT (Monica MUGAN and Dan TRUEMAN): Ricercar
Paul WIANCKO: When The Night
Terry RILEY: Good Medicine
Fri, July 12 at 11:00am
Education Center
Concert for Little Ones: Lucy Kalantari
Fri, July 12 at 7:30pm
Friends Field
Lost Bayou Ramblers
Presented in Collaboration with City Winery
Sat, July 13 at 5pm
Music Room
Kevin Zhu, violin and Maxim Lando, piano
Émigrés
Maurice RAVEL: Violin Sonata in G
Eugène YSAŸE: Poème élégiaque, Op. 12
Lili BOULANGER: Deux morceaux
Franz WAXMAN: Carmen Fantasie
Sat, July 13 at 7:30pm
Venetian Theater
Sutton Foster
Sun, July 14 at 4:00pm
Venetian Theater
Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Miloš, guitar
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Xian Zhang, conductor
Miloš, guitar
Nokuthula NGWENYAMA: Primal Message
Joaquín RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543
Thu, July 18 at 7:00pm
Friends Field
René Marie & Experiment In Truth
Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
Jump in the Line: The Music and Life of Harry Belafonte
René Marie, vocals
Etienne Charles, trumpet and percussion
Andrae Murchison, trombone
Xavier Davis, piano
Dan Wilson, guitar
Rodney Jordan, bass
Quentin E Baxter, drums
Fri, July 19 at 7:30pm
Spanish Courtyard
Joyce Yang, piano
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY: Selections from Les saisons
Sergei RACHMANINOFF:
Prelude in B minor, Op. 32, No. 10
Prelude in G-sharp minor, Op. 32, No. 12
Prelude in E minor, Op. 32, No. 4
Modest MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition
Sat, July 20 at 11:00am
Sunken Garden
Geneva Lewis, violin
Music and Meditation in the Garden
Jennifer Llewellyn, meditation coach
Sat, July 20 at 7:30pm
Venetian Theater
Purcell’s The Fairy Queen
Les Arts Florissants
William Christie, music director
Mourad Merzouki, choreographer and stage director
Soloists from Le Jardin des Voix
Dancers from Compagnie Käfig and The Juilliard School
PURCELL: The Fairy Queen
Paulina Francisco, soprano
Georgia Burashko, mezzo-soprano
Rebecca Leggett, mezzo-soprano
Juliette Mey, mezzo-soprano
Rodrigo Carreto, tenor
Ilja Aksionov, tenor
Hugo Herman-Wilson, baritone
Benjamin Schilperoort, bass-baritone
Sun, July 21 at 4:00pm
Sunken Garden
THE JUMP UP!
Sandbox Percussion
Douglas J. CUOMO: THE JUMP UP!
This event is FREE.
Pre-concert conversation with Douglas J. Cuomo
Thu, July 25 at 7:00pm
Spanish Courtyard
Our Song, Our Story: The New Generation of Black Voices
Damien Sneed, music director and piano
Jacqueline Echols McCarley, soprano
Justin Austin, baritone
Griot String Quartet
Hale SMITH: Evocation
Shawn OKPEBHOLO (arr.): Oh Freedom
Damien SNEED (arr.): Great Is Thy Faithfulness
Wynton MARSALIS: “The Lord’s Prayer” from Abyssinian Mass
Terence BLANCHARD: “There was a Storm” from Fire Shut Up In My Bones
Giacomo PUCCINI: “Ch’il bel sogno” from La Rondine
Damien SNEED: “It Is Done” from Treemonisha
George GERSHWIN: “Summertime” from Porgy & Bess
Terence BLANCHARD: Duet from Fire Shut Up In My Bones
Coleridge-Taylor PERKINSON: String Quartet, No. 1, “Calvary” – Allegro
Richard STRAUSS: “Morgen,” Op. 27, No. 4
Aaron COPLAND: “Little Horses” from Old American Songs, Set 2
Harry T. BURLEIGH: “Till I Wake”
Margaret BONDS: “Minstrel Man” from Three Dream Portraits
Damien SNEED: “I Hear The Stars Still Singing” from The Earth Sings Damien SNEED: “I Dream A World”
Margaret BONDS & Damien SNEED (arrs.): “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands”
Fri, July 26 at 7:30pm
Friends Field
Time For Three
Sat, July 27 at 12:30pm
Caramoor Grounds
Jazz Festival
Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
HEADLINER:
Matthew Whitaker
DAYTIME ARTISTS:
Francesca Tandoi
Ekep Nkwelle
Charles Overton
(more to be announced!)
Sun, July 28 at 4:00pm
Venetian Theater
Apollo’s Fire
Jeannette Sorrell, Artistic Director
Alan Choo, violin
Amanda Forsythe, soprano
Storms And Tempests: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons & Tempestuous Arias
Antonio VIVALDI:
“Dell’aura al sussurrar” from Dorilla in Tempe
“La Primavera” (Spring) from Le Quattro Stagioni, Op. 8, No. 1
“L’Estate” (Summer) from Le Quattro Stagioni, Op. 8, No. 2
“Siam navi all’onde algenti” from L’Olimpiade
Marin MARAIS: “Tempête et Marche de Matelots” from Alcione
George Frideric HANDEL: “Da Tempeste il legno infranto” from Giulio Cesare
Antonio VIVALDI:
“L’Autunno” (Autumn) from Le Quattro Stagioni, Op. 8, No. 3
“L’Inverno” (Winter) from Le Quattro Stagioni, Op. 8, No. 4
Thu, Aug 1 at 7:00pm
Venetian Theater
Mark Morris Dance Group
MMDG Music Ensemble
Italian Concerto (music by J.S. BACH)
Candleflowerdance (music by Igor STRAVINSKY)
Excursions (music by Samuel BARBER)
Words (music by Felix MENDELSSOHN)
Fri, Aug 2 at 11:00am
Education Center
Concert for Little Ones: Gabriel Globus-Hoenich
Fri, Aug 2 at 7:30pm
Venetian Theater
Richard Goode, piano
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN:
Piano Sonata No. 30 in E, Op. 109
Piano Sonata No. 31 in A-flat, Op. 110
Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111
Sat, Aug 3 at 5:00pm
Music Room
Clayton Stephenson, piano
Isaac ALBÉNIZ: Iberia, Book I
Igor STRAVINSKY: Trois mouvements de Petrouchka
George GERSHWIN (arr. Fazıl Say): “Summertime” Variations
George GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue
Art TATUM: Tea for Two
Hiromi UEHARA: “Green Tea Farm” from The Tom and Jerry Show
Sat, Aug 3 at 7:30pm
Venetian Theater
Rhiannon Giddens
Presented in collaboration with City Winery
Sun, Aug 4 at 4:00pm
Venetian Theater
Orchestra of St. Luke’s & Jeremy Denk, piano
Orchestra of St. Luke’s
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Jeremy Denk, piano
Samuel COLERIDGE-TAYLOR: Ballade, Op. 33
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G, Op. 58
Antonín DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 8
Pre-concert conversation with Thomas Wilkins
Sat, Aug 10 at 11:00am
Sunken Garden
Lun Li, violin & Hanzhi Wang, accordion
Music and Meditation in the Garden
Jennifer Llewellyn, meditation coach
Fri, Aug 16 at 7:00pm
Friends Field
Mokoomba
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© 21C Media Group, March 2024
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