Will Crutchfield Receives Distinguished Achievement Award

Caramoor CEO, Jeff Haydon, joined members of the Caramoor family including Caramoor Advisory Council member Zita Rosenthal and Caramoor Supporter Emily Grant at The Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges' Twelfth Annual Gala in NYC on May 13 to show support for Caramoor's Director of Opera Will Crutchfield. Crutchfield received the Distinguished Achievement Award for his work with training the next generation of Opera singers, his passion for Bel Canto, and his extensive career. From the program: "Will Crutchfield, noted American conductor, musicologist, and vocal coach, is the Director of Opera at the Caramoor International Music Festival and a frequent guest conductor at the Polish National Opera. From 1999 through 2005, he served as Music Director of the Opera de Colombia in Bogotá. As specialist in the Bel Canto repertoire, he prepared the first performing edition of Donizetti's "Élisabeth ou la fille de l'exilé" and conducted its world premiere at the Caramoor Festival on July 17, 2003. In addition to his scholarly work on vocal style, Crutchfield was the youngest music critic in the history of The New York Times, where he was a regular contributor from 1983 to 1989. He has also authored numerous reviews and articles for Opera News, including his "Crutchfield at Large" series. Crutchfield has also been involved in training the next generation of singers. Many of our Career Bridges winners have benefited from the experience of more than one production at Caramoor. He served on the faculties of all three New York conservatories, (Juillard, Manhattan and Mannes), and he continues to devote the summer months to extensive training programs at Caramoor." Career Bridges’ Mission Statement: Career Bridges’ mission is to provide grants, expert mentoring, training and performance opportunities over a period of three years to highly talented young classical singers so that they will be ready to launch their careers. Additionally, our mission is to enrich the lives of young school children and adults through the presentation of live performances by our gifted young artists.