With expanding audiences and a lineup that continues to go from strength to strength each summer, Caramoor remains a hub for musical and artistic exploration all year round.
The 2022 Spring season, presented in the Rosen House Music Room — amid 16th-century paintings, terra cotta reliefs, and authentic Renaissance furniture — is highlighted by two outstanding pianists: “exquisite” (Philadelphia Inquirer) Florence Price champion Michelle Cann (March 20), and influential jazz pianist and composer Brad Mehldau (April 14). The Grammy-nominated and consistently critically acclaimed Danish String Quartet performs ‘An alleged suite’ by various composers (April 22), and the Callisto Quartet, Caramoor’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, presents two concerts, featuring world premieres by composers Nathaniel Heyder and Harriet Steinke. Also showcased is Caramoor’s mentorship program which serves as an incubator for exceptional young talent: Schwab Vocal Rising Stars (March 13). The exciting spring season keeps moving along with concerts from sublime jazz vocalist Jazzmeia Horn (April 30), and blues, folk, singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell (May 14). Expanded family programming this season includes an outdoor performance by Grammy Award-winning children’s performer Dan Zanes and his wife, jazz vocalist Claudia Zanes (May 22).
Looking ahead to the spring season, Edward J. Lewis III, Caramoor’s new President and CEO, explains:
“We’re thrilled to continue live in-person music performances with our 2022 Spring season. We’ve curated a vibrant genre-spanning program of established masters and emerging artists; education programs that mentor the next generation of musical stars; and multicultural, sensory-friendly family events that invite everyone to enjoy the music. I hope you’ll join us.”
Caramoor’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, the Callisto Quartet, will be performing in a digital, on-demand, performance from the Music Room for a special, pre-season concert. In this performance, you’ll hear a world premiere by Nathaniel Heyder, who was inspired by Brahms’ Third String Quartet, which was itself modeled after the Mozart Quartet also on the program. Above all else, the three works share an unmistakable joy of life and nature. (February 13-20)
Led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, the emerging singers of Caramoor’s Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program take part in a creatively curated spring showcase titled Love Songs in 176 Keys: 4 hands, 4 voices, 4 countries. Four young singers and a pianist selected by Blier will participate in a week of daily coaching, rehearsals, and workshops, culminating in their Music Room performance. (March 13)
Pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has been sought after as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician ever since. Her program will be a powerful recital of works by Margaret Bonds, Florence Price, Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Frédéric Chopin. Cann’s curated suite of piano masterworks breaks the classical music mold to fuse feminine perspectives and idioms of Black vernacular with European traditions.
Bound by location and circumstance and impeded by prejudice, Black composers Florence Price and Margaret Bonds began as child prodigies and, despite each receiving major acclaim during their lifetime, both were largely forgotten in the years following.
Price’s Sonata in E Minor interjects notes of dance, folk spirituals, jazz, and blues into classical passages. And among Chopin-esque cascades, her masterwork Fantasie Negre No. 1 borrows its melody from African American folk songs.
Similarly, Bonds’s Troubled Water takes its theme from Wade in the Water, adding a traditional European structure to the spiritual.
Clara Schumann, whose distinct composing voice was overshadowed by that of her husband Robert, is represented by Quatre Pièces Fugitives, Op. 15 — a collection of romantic and introspective works that takes its name from its unrestrained nature, which break formal conventions of the time.
Ballades by Chopin and Brahms round out the program and add a purist view to the conversation. (March 20)
Praised for their “intensity and bravado” (Third Coast Review), the Callisto Quartet has their final performance as Caramoor’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence. This virtual on-demand appearance, spotlights an emerging composer; a world premiere of a piece commissioned from young Detroit composer Harriet Steinke. On the same program are Beethoven’s Op. 132 quartet in A Minor and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2, which shares with the Beethoven not only a key but the themes of introspection, suffering, and deliverance. Steinke was likewise commissioned to build on these pieces and concepts as the basis for her new work. (April 3 – 10)
Brad Mehldau – called “the most influential jazz pianist of the last 20 years” (The New York Times) – performs an intimate solo concert in the Music Room. An improviser first and foremost, Mehldau also has a deep fascination for the formal architecture of music, and the interplay between the two gives his performances their unique quality of controlled chaos. His starry list of frequent collaborators has included saxophonist Joshua Redman and mandolinist Chris Thile, among many others, and he has recorded his own songs with soprano Renée Fleming and mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter. He was the first jazz artist to be in residence at Carnegie Hall as holder of the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair, and his long string of accolades includes many Grammy nominations, a host of Downbeat Readers’ Poll wins in multiple categories, the Miles Davis Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and Germany’s ECHO Music Prize. (April 14 – currently sold out)
The Grammy-nominated Danish String Quartet – “one of the best quartets before the public today” (Washington Post) – performs a uniquely constructed program that begins with Britten’s Three Divertimenti and ends with Schubert’s beloved Death and the Maiden quartet. In between those poles is what the group calls An Alleged Suite of curated dances, inspired by John Adams’s John’s Book of Alleged Dances, from which three of the movements are taken. Included are a traditional Nordic polska, two pieces by Charpentier, three by Adams, and a Sarabande by Russian composer and Rimsky-Korsakov protégé Felix Blumenfeld. (April 22)
Two-time Grammy nominated vocalist Jazzmeia Horn – winner of both the 2013 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Competition and the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition, and a performer in Caramoor’s 2016 Jazz Festival – gives a Music Room performance presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center that showcases songs of striking musicality, emotional power, and social relevance. Named Jazzmeia by her piano-playing, jazz-loving grandmother, Horn has earned accolades around the world with her unique spin on the jazz tradition, touched by hints of R&B and hip-hop. (April 30)
American singer-songwriter from Boise, Idaho, Eilen Jewell makes her Caramoor debut as the reigning Queen of the Minor Key. She leads a tight quartet that blends influences of surf-noir, early blues, classic country, folk, and 1960s era rock ’n’ roll. Rolling Stone praised her clever songwriting, remarking that her “mix of gypsy jazz and old-timey folk music goes down easy,” but it was The Los Angeles Daily News that put it best: “She’s mighty good!” This concert is presented in collaboration with City Winery. (May 14)
FAMILY EVENT / Grammy Award-winning children’s performer Dan Zanes and Haitian-American music therapist and jazz vocalist Claudia Zanes will give an all-ages, sensory-friendly concert on Friends Field on May 22. Now married, the two have been making music together since meeting in 2016, sharing both a commitment to accessibility and a joy in making music for children.
Caramoor continues their tradition of their elegant Afternoon Teas on six Fridays in May and June: May 6, 13, 20, 27 & June 3, 10. Spend time relaxing with friends and enjoying a formal tea service in the grand setting of the Rosen House, including a variety of tea sandwiches, scones with crème fraiche and preserves, delicious desserts, and a variety of fragrant teas — all served on exquisite vintage china.
About Caramoor
Caramoor is a cultural arts destination located on a unique 80-plus-acres with Italianate architecture and gardens in Northern Westchester County, NY. 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. 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, where taxi service is available.
Caramoor has been committed to public health and safety since the start of the pandemic, and the 2022 Spring season has been designed in accordance with all the latest state and federal guidelines. Visit caramoor.org for up-to-date health and safety protocols for the Spring season.
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