Holiday Rosen House Tours
2023-12-21 12:45 - 13:15 (America/New_York)
You are invited to step into a holiday wonderland! Join us for a special tour of the art-filled Rosen House, decked out with enchanting decorations inspired by the cherished Rosen family archive. This limited-time holiday tour offers a glimpse of the family life that inspired celebrations in this historic house.

Our knowledgeable guides will take you on a captivating journey that’s perfect for friends and families alike. Create lasting holiday memories and immerse yourself in the rich history of the Rosen House with an unforgettable holiday tour!

Duration: Approximately 45 minutes of festive delight.

Pricing:General Public: $20 per personHoliday Tea Attendees: Enjoy a special rate of $15Members and Children 18 and Under: Admission is free!

Time Slots:December 9: 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pmDecember 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21: 12:45pm, 1pm, 1:15pm

Give the Gift of Music this Season!Need a unique gift idea for the music lover in your life? Purchase a Caramoor Gift Certificate for any value by emailing us at boxoffice@caramoor.org or call 914.232.1252. Or Give the Gift of Membership! Membership is a delightful present for any occasion that can be enjoyed year-round, including: Advanced ticket sales, to get the best seats first; Free tours of the historic Rosen House; and, Exclusive invitations to Members-only events. Contact membership@caramoor.org for more information.

Don’t Forget to Stop by the Gift Shop!Get into the festive spirit at Caramoor by visiting our gift shop, where you can discover the perfect holiday presents for your loved ones. From Caramoor merchandise to musical treasures, make a stop at Caramoor’s gift shop as part of your holiday shopping tradition.

Holiday Tea Musicale
2023-12-21 14:00 - 17:00
Get in the holiday spirit at Caramoor’s historic Rosen House! Participate in our annual holiday tradition and enjoy charismatic musicians, festive decorations, and tea service in the majestic Music Room. Following the spirited performance, the tea service includes an assortment of finger sandwiches, scrumptious holiday treats, and a variety of teas (or hot chocolate with marshmallows for children!). This program is popular and dates quickly fill up!

Shelén Hughes, sopranoGracie Francis, piano

2:00pm / Concert3:00pm / Tea & Sandwiches are Served

Self-Guided Rosen House Tours (included with ticket) / Following the tea, you will also have a chance to visit select rooms of the Rosen House starting at 4:00pm, until 5:00pm. The rooms showcase fine examples of decorative arts from Europe and China including jade, porcelain, and textiles that the Rosens admired and collected.

Menu

Adult Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Ricotta, and Avocado on Crostini Toast

Cured Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Rye Bread

Turkey and Arugula with Cranberry Aioli on Seven Grain Brea

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on a Mini Brioche Bun

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Peppermint Herbal Tea

Desserts

Linzer Cookie

Gingerbread Cookie

Chocolate Dipped Apricot

Peppermint Bark

Children’s Menu (suitable for ages 4–12)

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roast Beef and Cheddar on Wheat

Ham and Swiss on Rye

Turkey and American Cheese on Rye

Mozzarella and Tomato on Mini Brioche Buns

Peanut Butter and Jelly on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Peppermint Herbal Tea

Hot Chocolate

Desserts

Linzer Cookie

Gingerbread Cookie

Chocolate Dipped Apricot

Peppermint Bark

Dietary Restrictions: With advance notice at the time of booking, we are able to accommodate the following dietary restrictions: vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Please let us know if you have any severe allergies and we will do our best to accommodate. Please note, all foods are prepared off-site therefore we cannot provide day-of requests.

Vegetarian Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Crostini Toasts

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto, and Arugula on Whole Grain Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Curried Vegetarian “Chicken” Salad and Arugula on Mini Brioche Bun

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Peppermint Herbal Tea

Desserts

Linzer Cookie

Gingerbread Cookie

Chocolate Dipped Apricot

Peppermint Bark

Vegan Menu

Upon Arrival

Vegan Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber and Vegan Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread*

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and Vegan “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast*

Vegan “Chicken Salad” and Arugula on Dairy-Free Bread

Vegan “Mozzarella”, Tomato, and Arugula with Balsamic Vinaigrette on Crostini Toast*

*uses nut-based cheese substitutes

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Peppermint Herbal Tea

Desserts

Assorted Vegan Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Apricot

Peppermint Bark

Gluten-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Gluten Free Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Ricotta, and Avocado on Gluten Free Bread

Cured Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Gluten Free Bread

Turkey and Arugula with Cranberry Aioli on Gluten Free Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Gluten-Free Bread

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Gluten Free Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Peppermint Herbal Tea

Desserts

An Assortment of Gluten Free Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Apricot

Peppermint Bark

Dairy-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Dairy-Free Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and Dairy Free “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast*

Cured Salmon, Dairy Free Cream Cheese, and Capers on Rye Bread*

Turkey and Arugula with Cranberry Aioli on Seven Grain Bread

Cucumber and Dairy Free Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread*

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Dairy Free Bread

*uses nut-based cheese substitutes

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Peppermint Herbal Tea

Desserts

An Assortment of Dairy Free Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Apricot

Ivalas Quartet
2024-02-25 14:00 - 17:00
The final concert in the Ivalas Quartet’s 2022–23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residency, postponed from June 2023, represents their ongoing commitment to showcasing diverse voices. Their program, spotlighting Black and indigenous composers, includes a world premiere by Derrick Skye, a composer with Ghanaian, Nigerian, Native American, and British/Irish ancestry who believes music is a doorway into understanding other cultures.

ArtistsReuben Kebede, violinTiani Butts, violinMarcus Stevenson, violaPedro Sánchez, cello

ProgramJessie Montgomery: Strum Carlos Simon: Warmth from Other SunsEleanor Alberga: String Quartet No. 2Derrick Skye: Deliverance (World Premiere, Commissioned by Caramoor)

About the Music
We as the Ivalas Quartet believe that representation matters.

The Ivalas Quartet was formed after a conversation about a feeling of absence we shared — how we rarely saw our own faces and cultures in classical music. As members of Black and Latinx communities, we saw a lack of representation, of celebration, and of classical music making from our own communities and to our own communities.

Ivalas seeks to disrupt and enhance the classical music world with voices less known and sometimes unheard. By performing works for string quartet written by underrepresented BIPOC composers, the Ivalas Quartet strives to bring all kinds of audience members together in musical celebration.

Through the tool of representation, Ivalas looks to inspire young musicians and musicians-to-be with the sounds of music from cultures and communities that echo their own. We as Ivalas are deeply focused on renewing and uplifting the classical music industry through the amplification of BIPOC voices. We have set our sights on creating community, making exceptional art, and inspiring the future of classical music. Join us.

***

Today’s concert is an exciting showcase of how the mission of the Ivalas Quartet translates into their artistic programming. Ivalas wanted to frame the premiere of Derrick Skye’s Deliverance, commissioned by Caramoor, with some favorite repertoire written by BIPOC composers that the quartet has performed in the past few seasons. The repertoire presented today presents a “juxtaposition of a specific cultural flavor and academic writing … We want to present a program that allows us to have a lot of different artists just celebrating their unique voices. It’s going to be a party,” says cellist Pedro Sánchez.

Collaborating with Skye is a natural fit as there is great synergy between their respective artistic missions. On his website Skye states that he is “an American who has Ghanaian, Nigerian, British, Irish, and Native American ancestry, [whose] ancestry and identity have led him to claim and develop an ‘American’ aesthetic that incorporates many cultural influences into his work, reflecting the diverse communities he is part of. [He] passionately believes in music as a doorway into understanding other cultures and different ways of living. Through learning the music of other cultures, the opportunity for dialogue rather than conflict between strangers is opened, and our society can become one with less conflict due to cultural misunderstanding. [He] is deeply invested in fostering creative and effective collaboration between artists of different disciplines and traditions.”

“As soon as we received the wonderful news of our Caramoor Residency, we all went to the Internet and tried to listen to as much music as possible from composers that we felt inspired to ask for a commission,” shares Sánchez. “We really enjoyed Derrick Skye’s American Mirror and asked Caramoor to see if he might be available and interested. Fortunately the timing for the commission worked for Skye and it’s been fireworks ever since.”

Skye shares his thoughts about the new piece in his program note:

Deliverance is a transcultural classical string quartet that blends Persian classical melodic systems with rhythmic elements from West and North African music. The inspiration behind the title, Deliverance, originates from the deep sensation of freedom from fear and anxiety achieved by embracing vulnerability and imperfection. From Persian classical music, the piece uses two korons, which to the Western trained ear may sound like ﬂat microtonal pitches. Sonically, this demonstrates how something initially perceived as an imperfection, over time and with a change in perspective, can be seen as an aspect of perfection.

The piece begins with the use of the Persian classical Gushé Shekaste, which translates to “broken.” This section embodies fragmentation and invites the listener to engage with the evolving dynamics between two tone collections of Gushé Shekaste, the main tetrachord and the auxiliary notes. As the tempo accelerates, grooves and repeated phrases emerge, symbolizing chants and mantras through the utilization of 3, 4, and 6 beat groupings and polyrhythms inﬂuenced by West African and North African rhythmic forms. As the piece slows, it transitions into Dastgâh-e Navâ, meaning “song.” The counterpoint of this section is inspired by the choral works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and the chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach.

The journey of Deliverance continues as it explores the enigmatic realm of Gushé Nahoft, signifying “something hidden.” Once we hear the recapitulation of the melody in Gushé Shekaste, the piece progressively builds in intensity, culminating in Dastgâh-e Mâhur, (Mâhur is a type of ﬂower). In its ﬁnal moments, the piece reaches its conclusion with a cadence using Morakab-Navazi to move between Dastgâh-e Navâ and Gushé Goshâyesh. The word Goshâyesh refers to something good opening up in one’s life, such as prosperity or luck.

“This will be our first time really diving into that type of intonation as a quartet,” explains violinist Reuben Kebede. “We work so much to really refine tuning in the Western classical way … But this will be really fun, because there’s a certain aspect that he’s included in his work, adding the Persian elements and kind of layering those with Western classical tuning which creates a very unique sound for string quartet.”

The music of Jessie Montgomery has become an increasingly regular presence in concert halls near and far. A recent profile of the composer in The New York Times bore the headline “The Changing American Canon Sounds Like Jessie Montgomery: This composer’s music — improvisatory, open to influence, personal yet resonant — will be hard to miss …” Montgomery is currently Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony and teaches violin and composition at the New School. In her program note to Strum Montgomery says that the piece:

…is the culminating result of several versions of a string quintet I wrote in 2006. It was originally written for the Providence String Quartet and guests of Community MusicWorks Players, then arranged for string quartet in 2008 with several small revisions. In 2012 the piece underwent its final revisions with a rewrite of both the introduction and the ending for the Catalyst Quartet in a performance celebrating the 15th annual Sphinx Competition.

Originally conceived for the formation of a cello quintet, the voicing is often spread wide over the ensemble, giving the music an expansive quality of sound. Within Strum I utilized texture motives, layers of rhythmic or harmonic ostinati that string together to form a bed of sound for melodies to weave in and out. The strumming pizzicato serves as a texture motive and the primary driving rhythmic underpinning of the piece. Drawing on American folk idioms and the spirit of dance and movement, the piece has a kind of narrative that begins with fleeting nostalgia and transforms into ecstatic celebration.

“Jessie Montgomery has a lot of American folk elements that we love,” Kebede says. “We like to think that we’re driving in the Western United States by the Grand Canyon or something like that when we’re playing Strum.”

Eleanor Alberga is a highly-regarded mainstream British composer with commissions from the BBC Proms and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. With a substantial output ranging from solo instrumental works to full-scale symphonic works and operas, her music is performed all over the world. Her String Quartet No. 2 was written in 1994 and is in one movement but resembles a four-movement quartet played without pauses. Alberga’s music “has a nice juxtaposition of a Western classical, compositional style with Jamaican elements,” according to Kebede. “In her String Quartet No. 2, she uses just one theme at the beginning and develops it throughout the piece, and by the end it’s kind of like a Jamaican party.”

Ivalas counts making the first commercially released recording of Carlos Simon’s Warmth From Other Suns as a major highlight of their career. Simon is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, is Composer-in-Residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and currently serves as Assistant Professor at Georgetown University. He remarks in his program note to the piece:

Between 1916 and 1970, the mass exodus of African-Americans leaving the rural South, seeking homes in the urban West, Midwest, and Northeast became known as the Great Migration. Inspired by Isabel Wilkerson’s book The Warmth of Other Suns, I chose to bring these stories to life through the voice of a string quartet.

“Carlos Simon tells a story of these three families that make their way from the South to the North during the great migration. The first movement, Rays of Light … captures the feeling that we have to depart home, depart the known. The second moment, Flight, uses the blues scale … It’s filled with anxiety and the feeling of running. And the third movement, Settle, brings us a little bit back to those same things in the first movement. We will let the audience decide whether the final harmonies feel like settling down or not,” explains Sánchez.

Violinist Tiani Butts adds a little more commentary on the emotional ambiguity captured in Simon’s work. She says that the listener is asked to reflect on whether or not the original goals of those families had when they left home “were actually reached or accomplished. Trying to start somewhere new, hoping that it’s going to be a little bit better, at least a little bit better than what you just left. and never really understanding, or never really knowing, if it’s going to feel like home. You’ve made the journey, and you’re there. But is this as good as it gets? Or is there going to be another flight? I don’t really know. It’s quite interesting to think about whether it’s been settled or not, and I think that’s exactly what continues to go on today.”

— Daniel Doña

Daniel Doña is a violist and Senior Lecturer in Music at the Boston University School of Music, where he serves as Chair of the Committee for Antiracism & Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access. He is an avid chamber musician and a member of the Arneis Quartet.

About the Artists
Hailed by The Strad for playing with “tremendous heart and beauty,” the Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception at the University of Michigan in 2017. Dedicated to the celebration of BIPOC voices, Ivalas seeks to enhance the classical music world by consistently spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers such as Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Eleanor Alberga.

The Ivalas Quartet had the pleasure of performing George Walker’s Lyric for Strings at Carnegie Hall in January 2020. Later that year, they worked in collaboration with Walker’s son to program his String Quartet No. 1 with Friends of Chamber Music Denver and the Colorado Music Festival. In 2021, they created the first recording of Carlos Simon’s Warmth From Other Suns for string quartet under Lara Downes’ digital label Rising Sun Music.

Currently, The Ivalas Quartet is the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School in New York City, where they study under the Juilliard String Quartet. They were previously in residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder under the mentorship of the Takács Quartet.

The Ivalas Quartet has been featured in various concert series, including Community Concerts at Second in Baltimore, Friends of Chamber Music Denver, Detroit’s WRCJ Classical Brunch, the inaugural Detroit Music Weekend, the Davidson College Concert Series in North Carolina, the Crested Butte Music Festival, the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, the Blue Sage Center for the Arts, and CU Presents concert series where the quartet performed alongside the Takács Quartet in 2020 and 2022. Ivalas won the first prize at the 2019 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition in Davidson, NC, as well as the grand prize at the 2022 Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, TX.

The quartet also keeps a busy calendar in the summer, performing in past seasons at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Colorado Music Festival, Music In the Vineyards, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival. This past summer Ivalas returned to the University of Michigan in a mentorship role, coaching student groups at Center Stage Strings.

Ivalas was named Caramoor’s 2022–23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence and has been presenting multiple concerts at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. In the fall of 2022, Ivalas appeared at the Austin Chamber Music Center, Newport Classical in Rhode Island, CU Presents Takács Series, Schneider Concerts in NY, and the MacPhail Center for Music in MN. In May of 2023, they presented their first full program at Carnegie Hall, titled First Light.

The members of the Ivalas Quartet have a shared dedication to their roles as educators. Through the Sphinx Organization, Ivalas has presented educational programming in the Metro Detroit area, with an emphasis on community engagement in schools with Black and Latinx communities. In Colorado, they developed a partnership with El Sistema Colorado and were a part of the Aspen Music Festival Musical Connections program. In their new home of New York City, the quartet is enjoying working with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on their Chamber Music Beginnings program.

The Ivalas Quartet has nurtured students from the early stages of their musical journey to the collegiate level, with coaching experience including residencies at the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Central Arkansas, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. In New York City, they coach student groups at The Juilliard School.

To learn more about the Ivalas Quartet, please visit their website (ivalasquartet.com).

About Derrick Skye
View Website

Derrick Skye is a Los Angeles-based composer, conductor, and musician known for his transcultural approach to music, integrating various musical practices from different cultures around the world into his work. The Los Angeles Times has described his music as “something to savor” and “enormous fun to listen to,” while The Times (London) has praised Skye’s music as “deliciously head-spinning.” Skye is an American who has Ghanaian, Nigerian, British, and Irish ancestry.

Fascinated by the musical connections that can be found across cultures, Skye’s compositional process involves layers of problem-solving to integrate seemingly disparate musical traditions in a way that is not so different from the scientific method. With degrees in composition from the University of California, Los Angeles, and California Institute of the Arts, Skye is a student of West African drumming and dance with Kobla Ladzekpo, Beatrice Lawluvi, and Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole; Persian classical music theory with Pirayeh Pourafar; tala in Hindustani classical music with Swapan Chaudhuri and Aashish Khan; Balkan music theory with Tzvetanka Varimezova; and Balinese gamelan with I Nyoman Wenten.

At 40 years of age, Skye is incredibly prolific, having written orchestral music commissioned and/or performed by prestigious ensembles such as the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra (Canada), Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and The John F. Kennedy Center; a collaborative electro-acoustic artificial intelligence opera commissioned by The Lincoln Center (recently featured at TED 2023); choral works for Los Angeles Master Chorale, Conspirare, and EXIGENCE; and many chamber works. Rhythm and the embodiment of rhythm through movement and dance is an important theme in Skye’s works; he has often collaborated with choreographers such as Yeko Ladzepko-Cole, the Leela Dance Collective, Sheetal Gandhi, as well as synchronized swimming champion and international coach Sue Nesbitt.

Highlights of Skye’s oeuvre include Prisms, Cycles, Leaps for orchestra, which weaves together Western classical music, music of the Balkans, music of the Volta Region of Ghana, and Hindustani classical music; American Mirror for string quartet, which reflects on the coming together of cultures in societies consisting of many generations and descendants of refugees, immigrants, and enslaved people; and god of the gaps, a piece for solo violin, loop pedal, and electronics that features a quarter-tone flat found in the tonal systems Dastgâh-e Shur and Âvâz-e Esfahân from Persian classical music.

In addition to his work as a composer, Skye is dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding through music. His mission is to create music that transcends cultural boundaries and bridges diverse communities. Skye is Artistic Director of Bridge to Everywhere, Artistic Advisor for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Board Member of American Composers Forum, and Member of the New Music USA Program Council. Through his work, Skye demonstrates his belief in the power of music to inspire, connect, and foster dialogue across cultures.

The Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence mentoring program is supported, in part, by major endowment gifts from the Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation.

This concert was made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of The Amphion Foundation.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Saturday Rosen House Tour
2024-03-09 13:00 - 15:00
We are happy to offer a few Saturday tours this spring!

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rosen House is a work of living history. Discover the eclectic home that Caramoor founders Lucie and Walter Rosen built for music.

Our knowledgeable guides will take you on a captivating journey that’s perfect for friends and families alike. Tours are approximately 45 minutes.

March 9: 1:00pm, 2:00pmApril 6: 1:00pm, 2:00pm (click here to book this date)

CaramoorRosen House at CaramoorRosen House at CaramoorRosen House at CaramoorThe Music Room of the Rosen House at Caramoor

Schwab Vocal Rising Stars
2024-03-17 15:00 - 17:00
The chaos and the delight of Cupid’s arrow are refracted in songs by Saint-Saëns, Granados, Cole Porter, Sam Cooke, and many others. This concert is the culmination of a week-long mentoring program at Caramoor for four young singers and a pianist, selected by Artistic Director Steven Blier.

Program

Anacreon / trans. Robert Herrick: Wounded CupidNed Rorem: LoveFranz Schubert: Die Liebesgötterarr. Ludwig van Beethoven: Cupid’s KindnessHugo Wolf: GanymedEduard Toldrà: Madre unos ojuelitos viFernando Obradors: Al amorFrancis Poulenc: L’offrandeDarius Milhaud: A CupidonAndré Messager: J’ai deux amantsMax D’ollone: L’enfant ErosRichard Strauss: AmorEnrique Granados: Amor y odioCarlos López Buchardo: Los puñalitosEnrique Granados: Mañanica eraSam Cooke: CupidCole Porter: They Couldn’t Compare to YouJohn Dankworth: Tell Me the Truth About Love

Artists

Shan Hai, sopranoSophia Baete, mezzo-sopranoScott Rubén La Marca, tenorMichael Hawk, baritoneAmber Scherer, piano

Read the full alumni list here.

As part of our mission, we are delighted to offer free tickets for ages 18 & under for Schwab Vocal Rising Stars. Please use discretion when bringing children to Caramoor events. Adults must accompany children at all times.

About the Terrance W. Schwab Vocal Rising Stars Program
Inaugurated in the spring of 2009, Vocal Rising Stars is Caramoor’s mentoring program focusing on vocal chamber music and the art of song in recital. Singers at the advanced student and beginning professional level are invited to Caramoor to participate in an intensive week-long residency for daily coaching, rehearsals, and workshops with mentor Steven Blier and guest teaching artists.At Caramoor, we believe that the work leading up to a performance is of equal if not of greater importance than the concert itself and will have a lasting impact on the growth and development of young artists. Vocal Rising Stars provides singers with an opportunity to form collaborative partnerships with one another, the Caramoor staff, and the coaches who also participate in the residency. The program also includes a young pianist, who also gains experience and training in the art of vocal accompaniment, while expanding their knowledge of the repertoire. Since its inception, the program has received funding from the Terrance W. Schwab Endowment Fund for Young Vocal Artists. Created in memory of long-standing Caramoor trustee Terrance W. Schwab by his family, this endowment fund is designed to nurture and support the artistic development and careers of young vocalists outside of the operatic repertoire.In 2012, the program was renamed the Terrance W. Schwab Vocal Rising Stars, to honor his memory and the Schwab family’s ongoing commitment to this important program. To make a contribution to the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars mentoring program or to the Terrance W. Schwab Endowment Fund for Young Vocal Artists, please contact Tracy Tajbl, VP / Chief Development Officer at 914.232.3681 or donate online at caramoor.org/support.

Steven Blier, Artistic Director / Pianist

Steven Blier is the Artistic Director of the New York Festival of Song (NYFOS), which he co-founded in 1988 with Michael Barrett. Since the Festival’s inception, he has produced more than 150 vocal recitals with repertoire spanning five centuries of art song and popular song, including commissioned works by Ned Rorem, William Bolcom, and many others. New York Magazine gave NYFOS its award for Best Classical Programming, while Opera News proclaimed Blier “the coolest dude in town.”Blier’s recital partners have included Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Samuel Ramey, Susan Graham, Jessye Norman, Julia Bullock, and Paul Appleby, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to La Scala. He is currently on the faculty of The Juilliard School, and has been a guest teacher at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, Santa Fe Opera, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and the San Francisco Opera Center.Among Blier’s wide-ranging recordings are the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles (Koch International), which won a Grammy Award; and Spanish Love Songs (Bridge Records) with Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Joseph Kaiser, and Michael Barrett. His latest releases are on NYFOS Records, which released its first album (From Rags to Riches, with Stephanie Blythe and William Burden) in January of 2022.A native New Yorker, Blier received a Bachelor’s Degree with Honors in English Literature at Yale University, where he studied piano with Alexander Farkas.

Bénédicte Jourdois, Associate Director / Pianist

A graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera, Bénédicte Jourdois is currently on music staff at

the Metropolitan Opera and on faculty at The Juilliard School.Jourdois has performed in numerous venues in Europe and in the United States, including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.As a coach and pianist, she has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Chicago Lyric Ryan Opera Center, Pittsburgh Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Saratoga, Rice University, the Chautauqua Institution voice program, the Castleton Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, and Carnegie Hall’s SongStudio. She was a faculty member at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia from 2013 to 2016 and at the Manhattan School of Music from 2011 to 2018.Born in Paris, Jourdois holds degrees from the Conservatoire National de Region de Saint-Maur, the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Lyon, Mannes College, and The Juilliard School.

Shan Hai, soprano

Shan Hai, a native of Beijing, China, is garnering international attention, praised for her “remarkably accomplished vocalism with bright, accurate coloratura runs and genuine trills” (Opera News). Hai makes her debut with NYFOS this season after attending the prestigious Merola Opera Program at the San Francisco Opera, performing excerpts from Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet as Ophélie and Mozart’s Don Giovanni as Zerlina. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, her operatic repertoire also includes Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Le Feu in Ravel’s L’enfant et les Sortilèges, and Romilda in Handel’s Xerxes. Hai won first place in the Ades Vocal Competition, the Eisenberg-Fried Concerto Competition with the MSM Symphonic Orchestra, and prizes from Opera Index, the Gerda Lissner Lieder/Song Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

Sophia Baete, mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano Sophia Baete, from Louisville, Kentucky, is a fourth year undergraduate Vocal Arts Student at The Juilliard School, where she studies under Darrell Babidge. Baete has attended intensive programs including Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist’s Vocal Academy, the Chautauqua Institution, and Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute. She received First Place at the Schmidt Undergraduate Vocal Competition in both lower and upper divisions. Most recently, Baete has been seen on stage as Signora Guidotti in Juilliard Opera’s I due timidi, as a Resident Artist with New York Festival of Song, and as La Suora Zelatrice in Juilliard Opera’s Suor Angelica. She is a delighted member of the Denyce Graves Foundation Shared Voices Program. She is honored to have been selected as a 2024 Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and she is also immensely proud to be a Jerome L. Greene Fellow at The Juilliard School.

Scott Rubén La Marca, tenor

Scott Rubén La Marca is a tenor based in New York City. His recent operatic roles have included Ismael in Jimmy López Bellido’s Bel Canto and Trojan Man in Mozart’s Idomeneo, both performed at the Aspen Music Festival. This past December, he made his role debut as Contino Belfiore in Mozart’s La finta giardiniera, with musical direction led by Djordje Nesic, at the Manhattan School of Music. This spring, he will make his role debut as ein soldat in Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann.His other credits include the Italian man in Angélique by Jacques Ibert with Manhattan School of Music’s Opera Theater, under the baton of Pierre Vallet and the stage direction of John de los Santos. He has also performed as Liverotto in New Amsterdam Opera’s production of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia; Gastone in Verdi’s La Traviata with The Lighthouse Opera Company; and Camille in Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow with Queens College Opera.

Michael Hawk, baritone

Michael Hawk is a Resident Artist at Seattle Opera and former Young Artist at Los Angeles Opera. His repertoire spans both the dramatic and comedic roles of Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, and contemporary composers alike. Hawk has performed with many world-renown singers including Bryn Terfel, Susan Graham, Greer Grimsley, Quinn Kelsey, Erin Morley, Angela Meade, and many more, on the stages of Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, and the Aspen Music Festival. This summer he will perform the roles of Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and Big Jule in Guys and Dolls with Opera Saratoga. Next season at Seattle Opera, Hawk will sing Silvio in the opening night production of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Der Sprecher in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, and he will cover the roles of Sacristan and Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca.

Amber Scherer, pianist

Amber Scherer is a Korean-German pianist and educator. In May 2021, she graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory with degrees in psychology and piano performance. Currently, she is pursuing a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano at The Juilliard School, studying with Jonathon Feldman and Lydia Brown. Scherer is a recipient of the 2022 Segal Education Award from the U.S. Department of Education. Most recently, she worked as staff pianist and assistant coach at Chautauqua Institution and Harpa International Music Festivals. She has attended various programs on fellowship, including SongFest, the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, and The Cleveland Orchestra’s Kent-Blossom Music Festival. She hopes to expand access to arts education while she continues to study music therapy and develop her career as a performing artist.

Presented in collaboration with New York Festival of Song / Steven Blier, Artistic DirectorCaramoor’s Terrance W. Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program is made possible by generous support from the Terrance W. Schwab Endowment Fund for Young Vocal Artists.

Will Liverman, baritone Myra Huang, piano
2024-03-24 15:00 - 17:00
Hailed as “a voice for this historic moment” by The Washington Post, baritone Will Liverman is one of the most exciting and versatile singers today. Following his “breakout performance” (New York Times) opening the Met’s 2021–22 season in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones (which won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording) he returned this Fall to star in Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. Secure yourself a front-row seat to feel the power and beauty of Liverman’s voice in his Caramoor debut recital.

Program

Michael Ippolito: The Long YearWilliam Grant Still: GriefRalph Vaughan Williams: Selections from Songs of Travel1. “The Vagabond”2. “Let Beauty Awake”3. “The Roadside Fire”4. “You and Love”5. “In Dreams”6. “The Infinite Shining Heavens”7. “Whither Must I Wander”8. “Bright is the Ring of Words”INTERMISSIONFour SpiritualsAin’t Got Time to Die (arr. Hall Johnson)There is a Balm in Gilead (arr. Damien Sneed)Steal Away (arr. Shawn E. Okpebholo)He’ll Bring it to Pass (arr. John Joubert)Gabriel Fauré: Fleur jetée, Op. 39, No. 2Franz Schubert: An die Leier, D. 737 Carl Loewe: Erlkönig, Op. 1, No. 3 Sergei Rachmaninoff: Sud’ba, Op. 21, No. 1

“…one of the most versatile singing artists performing today, being equally skilled in classical repertoire and less mainstream works…“– Bachtrack

About the Program

MICHAEL IPPOLITOThe Long Year

Michael Ippolito’s moving song cycle The Long Year is dedicated to Will Liverman and was premiered by him at the Kennedy Center in 2022. A confessed bookworm, Ippolito here chose seven provocative poems by American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry), which describe scenes of nature through the year’s four seasons.

Though he also writes chamber and orchestral music, Ippolito is particularly attracted to vocal music, in which he can combine his dual loves of literature and music.

Currently an associate professor of composition at Texas State University, Ippolito is a graduate of the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and holds a Ph.D. in composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with renowned composer John Corigliano. He has received commissions from numerous organizations, including Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music America, The Florida Orchestra, and Vocal Arts DC.

Here is Ippolito’s note on The Long Year:

The Long Year is a set of seven songs to poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950). On the surface, this set is simply a collection of seasonal nature poems, arranged according to a calendar year (starting with winter, moving through spring, summer, and fall, and ending with winter). But beneath the surface, something seems to be wrong with the state of nature in these poems, or humanity’s relationship to the natural world. While Millay wrote these words in the first part of the twentieth century, I couldn’t help reading our current climate collapse into these texts. Through that lens, these songs express my own longing for a return to a right relationship with the landscape, and other living beings, and with the weather and the progression of the seasons, but also my awareness that this relationship is irretrievably lost. The Long Year resides in this state of longing for something you know is gone forever.

Millay’s poems indeed seem to convey more emotional power in our own time than when she wrote them nearly a century ago. The reality of climate change makes the childlike “Spring Song” about a long-delayed Spring season seem more menacing; the song’s last lines — “We shall hardly notice in a year or two/You can get accustomed to anything” — are painfully true. Also chilling is “If still your orchards bear” in which Millay imagines what a man born 10,000 years from now will see and experience in a world that may not have orchards anymore.

Mortality and the fear of death also hover in the background of many songs, especially in “The Oak Leaves,” when a single leaf battles against being the last to fall. Ippolito’s remarkable accompaniment here features icy ripples at the top of the piano’s range, which at the end shoot catastrophically down into the piano’s depths. Throughout the cycle, the composer puts maximum emphasis on the clarity and meaning of the words, with natural speech rhythms never obscured by the accompaniment. In the final song, “The Buck in the Snow,” the piano steps away entirely at beginning and end as the singer mourns the beautiful buck lying dead in the snow.

WILLIAM GRANT STILLGrief

Though prejudice limited his opportunities, William Grant Still was able to break through many barriers confronting African American musicians. In his long and distinguished career, he became the first Black American to conduct a major orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major company, and one of the pioneers in writing for films, radio, and television.

Written in Los Angeles in 1953, “Grief” was one of Still’s few classical art songs; its text was written by LeRoy V. Brant. As Still remembered, “Brant was accompanying … a music student to a local cemetery, where he saw a … statue of an angel with his head down, enclosed in his arms, weeping. The statue inspired Brant, who wrote the lyrics as a poem, which he sent to Still, who set it to music.” The song opens with an almost monotone vocal line sung over tolling–bell chords. Midway through, the singer suddenly breaks free in an impassioned melody, commanding the angel to “silence your wailing.” However, the music closes as it began, paralyzed by the weight of grief.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMSSelections from Songs of Travel

In 1904 when he published his cycle Songs of Travel on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Ralph Vaughan Williams was just at the beginning of his career. Some observers were still inclined to dismiss him — a scion of the wealthy Wedgwood clan that founded the famous pottery — as a musical amateur. That year, he began his celebrated editorial work on the new English Hymnal and also was busy roaming the English countryside collecting folk songs. The Songs of Travel showed he was no amateur and pointed the way to the greatness that was to come.

Because he was already spending so much time on the road himself, these poems by Stevenson — who despite chronic ill health was an indefatigable traveler and died at age 44 on the South Pacific island of Samoa — undoubtedly held a special appeal to Vaughan Williams. A prolific poet as well as novelist, Stevenson wrote his Songs of Travel collection on Samoa about a year before his death. They combine both a youthful energy and a profound sense of mortality. And they embody tension between the allure of a life of independence on the open road and the yearning for the remembered pleasures of hearth and home.

Set to a firm tramping beat, “The Vagabond” initially has a confident and positive quality. However, the little hesitancy appearing in the last line of each strophe suggests the emotional conflict between lonely freedom and the security of love left behind. Shimmering arpeggios propel the quietly ecstatic “Let Beauty Awake,” which praises the two loveliest moments of the day, sunrise and sunset.

As he rests by “The Roadside Fire,” the traveler thinks of the girl left behind and fantasizes that she is with him, sharing in the pleasures of the road. The happy rush of the song’s beginning expands into a love song in a distant key that carries him far away from his lonely state.

The composer’s harmonic choices for “Youth and Love” shade this verse about the powerful attraction of taking to the road for a very young man. The key is G major, but from the piano’s first chords, its triad is presented in an unstable position that subtly captures the youth’s restlessness. The key also fluctuates between major and minor as he wrestles between leaving and staying back with his girl.

Set over the off-the-beat ticking of time passing away, “In Dreams” intensifies the anguish of being alone. Chromatism and restless modulations express the traveler’s fears she has forgotten him. But to a wistful phrase echoed by the piano, he admits he has not forgotten her. Consolation comes in the sixth song, “The Infinite Shining Heavens,” as the traveler gazes at the night sky. The piano’s slow, entranced progression of chords, some rolled so they shimmer, describes the grandeur and mystery of those distant celestial bodies.

Composed three years earlier than the other songs, “Whither must I wander” broadens the theme of regret. Stevenson had become estranged from his parents in Edinburgh, and the composer pays tribute to those local references with a lovely, undulating melody based on the Scottish folksong “Wandering Willie.”

The most popular of these songs is “Bright is the Ring of Words,” which ponders the immortality of verse and song that will outlast the life of their maker. It opens with the grand descending line of the melody Vaughan Williams chose for his majestic hymn “For All the Saints,” which would become one of his thematic signatures.

Four Spirituals

In The Music of Black Americans, Eileen Southern eloquently sums up the role of music in the lives of enslaved African Americans: “Music was a primary form of communication for the slaves, just as it had been for their African forebears. Through the medium of song, the slave could comment on his problems and savor the few pleasures allowed him; he could voice his despair and his hopes, and assert his humanity in an environment that constantly denied his humanness.”

Today, the religiously inspired songs of the enslaved are known as “spirituals.” The term may have had its origin in the hymnal A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs from Various Authors published in 1801 in Philadelphia by the African American Methodist minister Richard Allen.

Sunday was the only day of rest for enslaved African Americans, and it became a time for worship and music. Although many owners forbade them to hold religious services, the enslaved managed to worship regularly, meeting after midnight on Saturday night or very early in the morning Sunday before their masters were up. They refashioned traditional white hymns with new tunes and words, transforming them into their own spirituals. And often these words incorporated coded messages about their yearning for freedom.

Attributed to the famed choral conductor Hall Johnson (1888–1970), “Ain’t Got Time to Die” is a vigorous, highly rhythmic spiritual originally scored for soloist and chorus. Its music reflects the energy of the believer, who is so busy serving and praising Jesus that he “ain’t got time to die.” The peaceful “There is a Balm in Gilead” is a spiritual written sometime in the 19th century by an unknown composer. Liverman will sing a modernized arrangement with a beautiful piano meditation by Damien Sneed. The phrase “balm in Gilead” comes from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, in which it referred to Israel’s need for spiritual healing; here it extolls Jesus as a physician who can heal the soul.

The beloved spiritual “Steal Away” is an example of an encoded song, in which the words “Steal Away to Jesus” express the slave’s desire to escape from the plantation that imprisons him. It was written sometime in the mid-19th century by Wallace Willis, who had indeed escaped slavery and joined the Choctaw tribe in Oklahoma. This spiritual and several others by Willis were passed on to the famed Jubilee Singers, who brought it worldwide fame. The arrangement is by Shawn Okpebholo.

The final traditional spiritual, “He’ll Bring it to Pass,” is a joyous, up-tempo song calling on believers to put their full trust in their Savior, who will bring to pass whatever they require. We’ll hear it in a zesty arrangement by famed pianist, composer, arranger, and Broadway conductor Joseph Joubert.

GABRIEL FAURÉ FRANZ SCHUBERT CARL LOEWE SERGEI RACHMANINOFF Four Songs

No other composer shaped and enriched the French song tradition more skillfully than Gabriel Fauré, who composed some 100 melodies over the course of his long career. Beginning with songs of lush lyricism, he progressively refined and pared his approach to songwriting until by his last collections everything was subordinated to the subtlest, most perfect declamation of the word and its emotional weight. However, the song Liverman has chosen, “Fleur jetée” written in 1884 to verse by Armand Silvestre, is extremely atypical of Fauré’s usually restrained style in its unbridled passion as well as for its use of the voice in full-throttle operatic splendor. The piano’s virtuoso fury portrays the fierce wind carrying away the despised flower as well as the anger of the spurned lover.

Though unfortunate in the shortness of his life, Franz Schubert was fortunate indeed to have been born into an era ripe for his particular literary/musical genius. The early 19th century saw an explosion of German poetry as the Romantic movement captivated its first generation. Schubert himself moved in an artistic circle that included far more poets than musicians, and he even tried his own hand at poetry. Besides the famous evenings when he played his music to his friends, he also experienced the white-hot intensity of their own creative efforts as they read aloud their latest verse.

One of these poets, the wealthy German nobleman Franz von Bruchmann, joined Schubert’s circle in the early 1820s and threw open his home to host the legendary Schubertiads unveiling the composer’s latest pieces. And undoubtedly that was where von Bruchmann’s poem “An die Leier” (“To the Lyre”) in Schubert’s dramatic setting first appeared. Here, the poet freely translated verses by Anacreon, a sixth-century B.C. Greek poet. The singer tuning up his lyre wishes to sing of the heroic deeds of ancient Greek warriors, but the strings will only play songs of love. Schubert uses two different musical styles to express this dichotomy. First the piano fiercely attacks dissonant chords and arpeggios summoning warlike scenes, and the singer responds with a harsh recitative. But this gradually fades away, and the singer launches into his love song: a warm, lyrical melody firmly rooted in the key of E-flat major.

Inspired by a Danish legend, the spooky ballad “Erlkönig,” was written by Goethe in 1782 for a singspiel or play with songs for the Weimar court. This tale of a father riding home at night with his young child who is being tormented by the supernatural king of the fairies that he alone can see, quickly caught on with composers and has received approximately 100 different settings, of which Schubert’s is the most famous. Liverman, however, has chosen a setting by the German Carl Loewe (1796–1869), which also deserves hearing.

Schubert wrote his “Erlkönig” in 1815 when he was only 17; Loewe created his version a few years later in 1817/18, but had not yet heard Schubert’s song. While Schubert’s setting is terrifying from its very first notes, Loewe takes a quieter, more subtle approach, opening with an eerie portrayal of the misty night. That uncanny atmosphere continues in the lines for the Erlkönig, always sung in a seductive pianissimo in a series of arpeggios rather than a true melody. The father seems calm at first, and the riding motives in the piano are muffled. However, Loewe builds the drama inexorably as the riding accompaniment grows more urgent and dominates the terrifying denouement.

Though his chosen instrument, the piano, is categorized as a percussion instrument, Sergei Rachmaninoff became one of music’s most inspired melodists, as lovers of his piano concertos can readily attest. And alongside his instrumental works, he poured his lyrical gift into some 80 songs, whose popularity is only limited by their being in the Russian language.

During the summer of 1899, Rachmaninoff at age 26 wrote the dramatic song “Sud’ba” (“Fate”) to words by Alexey Apukhtin; he would not publish it until 1902 when it opened the Twelve Songs of opus 21. It was premiered in 1900 in Moscow by the great basso Fyodor Chaliapin with Rachmaninoff accompanying; the audience demanded an encore. This is a piece that requires not simply a good singer, but a powerful actor to achieve its full power. The composer had the clever idea of using Beethoven’s famous four-note “Fate knocks at the door” theme to propel the music and the story. Fate here is embodied as an old, gray-haired lady who knocks with her walking stick to announce bad news, even death to those who dwell in happiness. In the final scene, the composer uses his patented lush lyricism to portray a scene between two young lovers, but even that is ultimately crushed by Fate.

— Janet E. Bedell

Janet E. Bedell is a program annotator and feature writer who writes for Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cal Performances at the University of California-Berkeley, and other music organizations.

About the Artists

Will Liverman, baritone
Called “a voice for this historic moment” (Washington Post), Grammy Award-winning baritone Will Liverman is the recipient of the 2022 Beverly Sills Artist Award and the co-creator of The Factotum – “mic-drop fabulous good” (Opera News) – which premiered at the Lyric Opera Chicago in 2023.

This season Liverman returns to the Metropolitan Opera in the title role of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X. He was previously seen at the Met opening its 2021-22 season in a celebrated “breakout performance” (New York Times) as Charles in Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up In My Bones, which won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

Liverman’s 2023-24 season further includes productions with Opera Philadelphia for the world premiere of Rene Orth’s 10 Days in a Madhouse and the Met Opera for Roméo et Juliette. In concert, he joins the Lexington Philharmonic for the orchestrated world premiere of Shawn E. Okpebholo’s Two Black Churches, Houston Symphony’s Carmina Burana, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for Brahms’ A German Requiem, and The Washington Chorus’ Elijah Reimagined, plus Dayton Opera and Cincinnati Song Initiative for vocal recitals. He serves as Artistic Advisor for Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall.

Cedille Records released Liverman’s Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers with pianist Paul Sanchez in February 2021. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Liverman is an alumnus of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and was a Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist. He holds a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from Wheaton College in Illinois.

To learn more about Will Liverman, please visit willliverman.com.

Myra Huang, piano
Acclaimed by Opera News as being “among the top accompanists of her generation” and “…a colouristic tour de force” by The New York Times, Grammy Award-nominated pianist Myra Huang has established herself as one of the leading recitalists in art song recital in the U.S. Huang is invited regularly to perform around the world, with tours including regular appearances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, The Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, The Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Kennedy Center, and The 92nd Street Y. Huang was chosen as the recipient of The Samuel Sanders Collaborative Artist Award for 2019 by The Classical Recording Foundation for her consummate artistry. Regular collaborations include recitals with Fleur Barron, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, Sasha Cooke, Ying Fang, Joshua Hopkins, Will Liverman, Angela Meade, John Matthew Myers, Eric Owens, Nicholas Phan, Susanna Phillips, Roderick Williams, and Anthony McGill.

Huang holds the positions of the Head of Music for the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera, The Director of Musical Administration and Head Coach at The Aspen Music Festival, and faculty of the Collaborative Piano Department at The Manhattan School of Music, where she mentors and supports young opera singers and pianists of the next generation. She regularly adjudicates national competitions including the Laﬀont Competition at The Metropolitan Opera, as well as administers masterclasses at institutions across the country.

Huang is an avid recitalist and recording artist. She is a two-time Grammy nominee for her album Gods and Monsters on the Avie label. Huang is a Steinway Artist.

Saturday Rosen House Tour
2024-04-06 13:00 - 15:00
We are happy to offer a few Saturday tours this spring!

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Rosen House is a work of living history. Discover the eclectic home that Caramoor founders Lucie and Walter Rosen built for music.

Our knowledgeable guides will take you on a captivating journey that’s perfect for friends and families alike. Tours are approximately 45 minutes.

April 6: 1:00pm, 2:00pm

CaramoorRosen House at CaramoorRosen House at CaramoorRosen House at CaramoorThe Music Room of the Rosen House at Caramoor

Pacifica Quartet
2024-04-14 15:00 - 17:00
With their unrivaled virtuosity and infectious energy, the Pacifica Quartet owns a well-deserved reputation as one of the most esteemed chamber ensembles of our time. Caramoor’s 2001 –2002 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-residence, the Pacifica has been together for almost three decades, a longevity not many other quartets can boast about. Along with one of the favorite late Beethoven quartets, Pacifica will showcase works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Louis Gruenberg, two composers behind many classic Hollywood scores of the ’40s and ’50s.

Program

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 34 Louis Gruenberg: Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32 Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132

Artists

Pacifica QuartetSimin Ganatra, violinAustin Hartman, violinMark Holloway, violaBrandon Vamos, cello

About the Artists

With a career spanning nearly three decades, the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices. Named faculty string quartet-in-residence at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2012, the Quartet was previously quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently received its second Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for Contemporary Voices (2020), featuring the works of three Pulitzer Prize-winning women. The Quartet also leads the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music’s top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 2002 the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award and the appointment to Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two), and in 2006 was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. With its powerful energy and captivating, cohesive sound, the Pacifica has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound.

The Pacifica Quartet has proven itself the preeminent interpreter of string quartet cycles, harnessing the group’s singular focus and incredible stamina to portray each composer’s evolution, often over the course of just a few days. Having given highly acclaimed performances of the complete Carter cycle in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Houston; the Mendelssohn cycle in Napa, Australia, New York, and Pittsburgh; and the Beethoven cycle in New York, Denver, St. Paul, Chicago, Napa, and Tokyo (in an unprecedented presentation of five concerts in three days at Suntory Hall), the Quartet presented the monumental Shostakovich cycle in Chicago, New York, Montreal and at London’s Wigmore Hall. The Quartet has been widely praised for these cycles, with critics calling the concerts “brilliant,” “astonishing,” “gripping,” and “breathtaking.”

Recent season highlights include defining performances at Shriver Hall with Marc-André Hamelin and for the Montreal International String Quartet Academy, as well as appearances on North America’s major chamber-music series, including concerts in Charlottesville, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Kansas City, and Vancouver.

An ardent advocate of contemporary music, the Pacifica Quartet commissions and performs many new works including those by Keeril Makan, Julia Wolfe, and Shulamit Ran, the latter in partnership with the Music Accord consortium, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. The work – entitled Glitter, Doom, Shards, Memory – had its New York debut as part of the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center series.

In 2008 the Quartet released its Grammy Award-winning recording of Carter’s quartets Nos. 1 and 5 on the Naxos label; the 2009 release of quartets Nos. 2, 3, and 4 completed the two-CD set. Cedille Records released the group’s four-CD recording of the entire Shostakovich cycle, paired with other contemporary Soviet works, to rave reviews: “The playing is nothing short of phenomenal.” (Daily Telegraph, London) Other recent recording projects include Leo Ornstein’s rarely-heard piano quintet with Marc-André Hamelin with an accompanying tour, the Brahms piano quintet with the legendary pianist Menahem Pressler, and the Brahms and Mozart clarinet quintets with the New York Philharmonic’s principal clarinetist, Anthony McGill.

The members of the Pacifica Quartet live in Bloomington, IN, where they serve as quartet-in-residence and full-time faculty members at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Prior to their appointment, the Quartet was on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana from 2003 to 2012, and also served as resident performing artist at the University of Chicago for seventeen years.

Lakecia Benjamin & Phoenix
2024-04-19 20:00 - 20:30
Saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin and her quartet are at the forefront of the convergence between jazz, hip-hop, and soul. Renowned as a staple artist at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Benjamin radiates an unstoppable energy that ignites the stage and captivates audiences. You’ll hear why this charismatic, dynamic artist was recently voted Rising Star Alto Saxophonist by Downbeat Critics Poll, and Up and Coming Artist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association.

“The alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin plays jazz that is sprinkled with the rich flavors of funk and soul—she’s a crafty traditionalist who remains in step with the rhythms of the young generation.”–The New Yorker

About the Artist

Voted by 2020 Downbeat Critics Poll Rising star Alto Saxophonist and Up and Coming Artist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, charismatic and dynamic saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin fuses traditional conceptions of Jazz, HipHop, and Soul. Benjamin’s electric presence and fiery sax work have shared stages with several legendary artists, including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, and The Roots. A streetwise New York City native born and raised in Washington Heights, Lakecia Benjamin first picked up the saxophone at Fiorello LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts. From there she joined the renowned jazz program at New York’s New School University. However, even at that early stage, Benjamin was already playing with renowned jazz figures like Clark Terry and Reggie Workman, which introduced her to opportunities to play and tour with an array of artists such as Rashied Ali, Christian Mcbride, Gregory Porter, and James “Blood” Ulmer. With her deep jazz roots, she was soon in demand as an arranger and horn section leader, landing stints with such acclaimed artists as Anita Baker

Lakecia Benjamin’s album “Pursuance” is an intergenerational masterpiece that takes one on a journey through the lineage of the music with the works of John and Alice Coltrane. Benjamin pays homage to those who have come before by featuring innovative bandleaders of her generation, such as Reggie Workman (Coproducer and playing ), Ron Carter, Gary Bartz, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Meshell Ndegecello, Regina Carter, Bertha Hope, Last poets, Greg Osby, Steve Wilson, John Benitez, Marc Cary, Marcus Gilmore, Keyon Harrold, Marcus Strickland, Brandee Younger, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Jazzmeia Horn.

Phoenix, the latest and fourth studio album from virtuosic saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, is due out on January 27, 2023, via Whirlwind Recordings. The far-reaching new album finds the tour-de-force saxophonist in a poised and profoundly individual position alongside an all-star cast of musicians.

Phoenix is the highly-anticipated, expansive new album in the musical evolution of alto saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin. The album was produced by the multi-Grammy-award winning Terri Lyne Carrington and features a star-studded lineup of specially curated guests Dianne Reeves, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Patrice Rushen, Sonia Sanchez, Angela Davis, and Wayne Shorter. The band is composed of trumpeter Josh Evans, Victor Gould on keys, Orange Rodriguez on synths, drummer Enoch (EJ) Strickland, percussionist Nêgah Santos, and bassist Ivan Taylor. Trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr, Rhodes organist Anastassiya Petrova and bassist Jahmal Nichols all join for one track each.

Abeo Quartet
2024-05-05 15:00 - 17:00
The Abeo Quartet continues its residency with an exquisite program including works by two late-Romantic Russian composers, Alexander Glazunov and Dmitri Shostakovich, and a composer of today, Reena Esmail, who beautifully straddles the worlds of Indian and Western classical music. The climax of the program is Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden,” a powerful work showcasing the composer’s mastery of melody, harmonic exploration, and the emotional depth characteristic of the Romantic period. You’ll leave this concert wondering when you can hear the amazing Abeo Quartet at Caramoor again. (Hint: Summer 2024!)

Artists

Abeo QuartetNjioma Grevious, violinRebecca Benjamin, violinJames Kang, violaMac Taback, cello

Program

Alexander Glazunov: Five Novelettes, Op. 15: 2. Orientale Reena Esmail: String Quartet “Ragamala”Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 122 Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 “Death and the Maiden”

About the Quartet

The Abeo Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2018, was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet from 2021–2023. Abeo’s recent accomplishments include Third Prize at the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition, making the semi-finals at the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and being among ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. The quartet was also a First Prize and Audience Favorite Prize winner in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles and Silver Medal winner of the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, both in 2022. Additionally, Abeo was a finalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists International Competition and the silver medal winner of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Members of the quartet are violinists Njioma Grevious and Rebecca Benjamin, violist James Kang and newest member, cellist Macintyre Taback. Recent highlights have included performances at Music@Menlo, the Schneider Concert Series, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and collaborations with members of the Calidore and Dover string quartets.

In March 2024, Abeo returned to perform at the Kennedy Center, having been featured there in 2019 with distinguished pianist Joseph Kalichstein at the Reach Opening Festival. The 2023–2024 season has also brought a yearlong residency for Abeo as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY., with performances coming up in April and June that will include outreach to young listeners and others who are unable to attend live concerts. Abeo will also perform this spring at Emerald City Music in Seattle alongside the Calidore String Quartet.

Past Abeo highlights include performances at Alice Tully Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s masterclass series with the Danish String Quartet, and on WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces. Abeo was invited to perform in Norway’s 2019 Vertavo Festival, performing seven Haydn string quartets and was in residence at the Glenstone Museum, debuting “Moonshot” by Alistair Coleman. The quartet has studied and performed at Music@Menlo, with the Emerson Quartet at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and with the Brentano String Quartet at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Abeo was coached by members of Quatuor Ébéne, Alban Berg, Takács, Artemis, Cecilia and Meta4 String Quartets.

During their time at Juilliard, Abeo studied regularly in the Honors Chamber Music Program under the tutelage of The Juilliard String Quartet with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween and Roger Tapping. The quartet chose the name Abeo / ah – bey – oh / — an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect — to reflect their love for playing chamber music and sharing it with others.

Jake Blount
2024-05-11 20:00 - 20:30
When Jake Blount stumbled upon a banjo performance in an Ethiopian restaurant around a decade ago, he instantly fell in love with the instrument. Now you’ll instantly fall in love with him — banjoist, fiddler, singer, scholar, and entertainer — as he explores the folk traditions of Black and indigenous Americans. A recipient of the prestigious Steve Martin Banjo Prize, Blount will blend his “charismatic and limber” voice (The Guardian) with blues, bluegrass, and spirituals for a deeply fulfilling musical experience.

About the Artist
Jake Blount (pronounced: blunt) is an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music based in Providence, RI. Initially recognized for his skill as a string band musician, Blount has charted an unprecedented, Afrofuturist course on his pilgrimage through sound archives and song collections. In his hands, the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar and synthesizer become ceremonial objects used to channel the insurgent creativity of his forebears. From transfixing solo sets to full-band festival appearances complete with crowd-surfing and ecstatic chants, Blount’s performances – like his recent Smithsonian Folkways release, The New Faith – seamlessly merge centuries-old traditional songs with the trappings and techniques of modern Black genres. This “genrequeer” approach to the traditions has earned his music a place in the very same archives from which he extracts his repertoire. In defiance of genre categories, revisionist histories and linear time, Blount fashions an “Afrofuturist folklore” that disintegrates the boundaries between acoustic and electric, artist and medium, and ancestor and progeny.

Balancing his taste for arcane source material with his desire to reach diverse audiences, Blount has shared his music at venues including the Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Festival, the Library of Congress and NPR’s Tiny Desk. His knowledge and skill have deepened over the course of his still-young career, and his vision has grown more ambitious – but his music has only grown in popular appeal. Blount’s debut solo record, Spider Tales, was ranked among the best of 2020 by outlets including Bandcamp and The New Yorker. NPR, The Guardian, Rolling Stone and more named The New Faith one of the best roots releases of 2022. With the Steve Martin Banjo Prize, two International Folk Music Awards nominations and two first-place ribbons from Clifftop already under his belt, Blount’s star continues to rise.

Blount’s thoughtful musicianship has made him a sought-after collaborator. He has contributed to recordings by Adia Victoria, Dave Hause, Adeem The Artist and others, opened for GRAMMY-winners Rhiannon Giddens and Molly Tuttle, and traveled the world as a member of old-time groups Tui and The Moose Whisperers. He regularly shares the stage with skilled contemporaries such as Mali Obomsawin, George Jackson, Nic Gareiss, Laurel Premo, and Tatiana Hargreaves.

In addition to his public-facing achievements, Blount has an impressive industry track record. He has performed as an official showcase artist at Folk Alliance International, SXSW, AmericanaFest and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s World of Bluegrass. He was a 2020 Strathmore Artist In Residence, and participated in the IBMA’s Leadership Bluegrass program in the same year. An emeritus board member of Bluegrass Pride, Blount is known as a strong advocate for progressive causes within the music industry, and appears regularly on conference panels pertaining to social and environmental justice. His writings on music and issues facing the industry have appeared in publications including Rolling Stone, NPR, Paste Magazine and No Depression.

Blount is also a skilled educator. In addition to his on-stage offerings, his engagements frequently include lectures and presentations pertaining to both his original research and the history of Black string band music. He has shared this work at Yale University, Berklee College of Music, the Smithsonian Institution and elsewhere. He also makes regular appearances at music camps, most notably Earful of Fiddle Music & Dance Camp, offering hands-on instruction in fiddle and banjo. In the fall of 2023, Blount will begin working toward a Ph.D. in Musicology and Ethnomusicology from Brown University.

Blount performs on a five-string fiddle made by Nathaniel Rowan, and banjos from Seeders Instruments and Renan Banjos.

Seong-Jin Cho, piano
2024-05-15 19:30 - 20:00
With an overwhelming talent and innate musicality, piano virtuoso Seong-Jin Cho has made his mark as one of the consummate talents of his generation and most distinctive artists on the current music scene. Since 2015 when he won First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, his thoughtful, poetic, and colorful piano playing has won the hearts of audiences everywhere. This intimate recital by one of today’s brightest classical stars is not to be missed.

Program

Joseph Haydn: Piano Sonata in E Minor Maurice Ravel: Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn Maurice Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin Franz Liszt: Années de pèlerinage, deuxième année – Italie, S161

About the Artist
Seong‐Jin Cho was brought to the world’s attention in 2015 when he won First Prize at the Chopin International Competition in Warsaw, and his career has rapidly ascended since. In January 2016, he signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. An artist high in demand, Cho works with the world’s most prestigious orchestras including Berliner Philharmoniker, Wiener Philharmoniker, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductors he regularly collaborates with include Myung‐Whun Chung, Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet‐Séguin, Andris Nelsons, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Simon Rattle, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Esa‐Pekka Salonen.

Highlights of Seong‐Jin Cho’s 2022/23 season include performances of the Brahms piano concerti at Festspielhaus Baden‐Baden with Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet‐Séguin. He notably returns to the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks with Zubin Mehta, to the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Andris Nelsons and performs the world premiere of Thierry Escaich’s new piano concerto with the Czech Philharmonic and Semyon Bychkov. A highly sought‐after touring soloist, Cho embarks on several international tours, including those with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle to Japan and Korea, with the Dresden Staatskapelle and Myung‐Whun Chung in Dresden and in Korea. He also performs with the Academy of St Martin’s in the Fields, touring throughout Germany in Spring 2023.

An active recitalist very much in demand, Seong‐Jin Cho performs in many of the world’s most prestigious concert halls including the main stage of Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Berliner Philharmonie, Konzerthaus Vienna, Prinzregententheater München, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Walt Disney Hall Los Angeles, Festival International de piano de la Roque d’Anthéron, and Verbier Festival. During the coming season he is engaged to perform solo recitals at the likes of Carnegie Hall, Boston Celebrity Series, Walt Disney Hall, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Liederhalle Stuttgart, at Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Berliner Philharmonie, Musikverein Wien and he debuts in recital at the Barbican London. Cho also returns, three times this season, to Japan where he first appears in recital performances in Nagoya, Tokyo and Yokosuka in August 2022.

Seong‐Jin Cho’s most recent recording is of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Scherzi with the London Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda, released in August 2021 for Deutsche Grammophon. He had previously recorded his first album with the same orchestra and conductor featuring Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 as well as the Four Ballades. His solo album titled The Wanderer was released in May 2020 and features Schubert’s “Wanderer” Fantasy, Berg’s Piano Sonata op. 1 and Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B minor. A solo Debussy recital was also released in November 2017, followed by a Mozart album with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Yannick Nézet‐Séguin in 2018. All albums have been released on the Yellow Label and have garnered impressive critical acclaim worldwide.

Born in 1994 in Seoul, Seong‐Jin Cho started learning the piano at the age of six and gave his first public recital aged 11. In 2009, he became the youngest‐ever winner of Japan’s Hamamatsu International Piano Competition. In 2011, he won Third Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow at the age of 17. From 2012‐2015 he studied with Michel Béroff at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris. Seong‐Jin Cho is now based in Berlin.

An Evening Of Wine
2024-05-18 18:00 - 18:30
By joining us this evening, you are contributing to the vibrant experiences that Caramoor offers, fostering a sense of discovery and inspiration among all who visit. We believe these educational programs will ignite a lasting passion for the arts within our community, nurturing creativity and curiosity for generations to come. We hope you’ll join us.

Schedule6:00pm / Cocktails7:00pm / Musical Performance by Stella Cole8:00pm / Dinner by Chef Jesse Schenker & Silent Auction of Rare Wines10:00pm / Cigar Lounge and Nightcaps

Seating is Limited / Cocktail Attire

The evenings featured wines will include:2012 Nikolaihof Riesling Reserve Steiner Hund2012 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet2012 Domaine Lignier-Michelot Clos de la Roche1983 & 1986 Château Léoville Las Cases en Magnum ex Chateau2001 Château d’Yquem en Magnum ex Chateau

Benefit Co-ChairsJim Attwood & Peter Kend

For more information or to RSVP please contact the Special Events Office at events@caramoor.org or 914.232.1492.

All but $250 is tax-deductible. All tickets will be held at the door. Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization. Payment for tickets may not be made through a donor advised fund. If you anticipate payment by a private foundation, please contact your legal advisor. Ticket purchases do not count toward membership. No refunds. Contributions are tax-deductible as provided by law.

credit: Daniel Brennan

Chef Jesse Schenker

Jesse’s contemporary approach to recreating American classics is a reflection of who he is as a chef: equal parts devotee to highly refined techniques + a passion for all things delicious. Schenker first made his mark on the culinary scene in Manhattan with recette, the intimate urban American restaurant which he opened in New York’s West Village in January 2010. In addition to being a twice nominated James Beard Award semi-finalist, Schenker has received several awards and accolades, including a spot on Forbes “30 Under 30” list and Schenker was victorious in his battle on Food Network’s Iron Chef America in 2011. Schenker currently lives in Oyster Bay, New York with his family and runs acclaimed dining concepts 2 Spring, Spring St. 2Go and Four.

Stella Cole

To watch Stella Cole perform is to be transported back in time. Her sense of joy and wonder is infectious – one look at her massive social media following makes this clear. Take a quick scroll through the comments of any of her many viral videos and you’ll see not only her irresistible charm, but an ability to expose fans of all ages to the wonders of the Great American Songbook, especially when these timeless stories are told honestly by an artist with an uncanny ability to transcend generations.

Upon first hearing Stella Cole, one is immediately struck by her rich tone and extraordinary vocal control. However, what is particularly rare is her ability to interpret songs that were initially intended for actors in character in a direct, personally vulnerable way that connects to something within herself, placing her in the lineage of the greatest interpreters of the repertoire. Perhaps most exciting, to her many young fans, who have never heard these songs before, these are Stella Cole songs, which clearly makes her one of the most exciting artists of her generation.

Sonia de Los Santos
2024-05-19 14:00 - 17:00
Just try to not smile while listening to Sonia de Los Santos sing about things like migrating birds, friendship, chocolate, and anecdotes about growing up in Mexico and her childhood dream of moving to New York. Singing in both Spanish and English, her music will get the entire family dancing in and out of their seats (oh! bring a blanket or chair!). If her rhythms from Latin America don’t make you crack a smile, her messages of global hope and connection will.

This concert takes place outdoors on Friends Field. Please bring your own seating for this performance.

Afternoon Tea
2024-05-24 13:00 - 17:00
Afternoon Tea was one of the English traditions Lucie Rosen, founder of Caramoor, enjoyed during her time living in England in the early 1910s. She kept up the practice of inviting friends and guests to tea for many years, using the time for conversation and for planning concerts and other social events.

Tea is served in the Music Room, a unique opportunity for you to relax with friends and family in a breathtaking historic setting, featuring a large portrait of Lucie herself. The service includes a variety of tea sandwiches, scones with créme fraiche and preserves, delicious desserts, and a selection of fragrant teas.

Self-Guided Rosen House Tours (included with ticket) / Following the tea, you will also have a chance to visit select rooms of the Rosen House starting at 2:00pm, until 3:30pm. The rooms showcase fine examples of decorative arts from Europe and China including jade, porcelain, and textiles that the Rosens admired and collected.

Docent-Guided Rosen House Tours (additional fees may apply) / Preceding the tea, docent-led tours are available by appointment only; they tend to fill up quickly, so be sure to book in advance by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252. Private tours are $15 for adults, and are free for Members and children under the age of 18. In addition to stunning examples of furniture, textiles, and ceramics from Europe and China, new for 2024, visitors will have the chance to see special works by women artists in the Rosen House collection.

Menu

Adult Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on a Mini Brioche Bun

Roasted Tomato, Ricotta, and Avocado on Crostini Toast

Cured Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Apricot Scone with Creme Fraiche and Jam

Lemon Bar

Linzer Cookie

Children’s Menu (suitable for ages 4–12)

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roast Beef and Cheddar on Wheat

Ham and Swiss on Rye

Turkey and American Cheese on Rye

Mozzarella and Tomato on Mini Brioche Buns

Peanut Butter and Jelly on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Covered Strawberry

Apricot Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Lemon Bar

Linzer Cookie

Dietary Restrictions: With advance notice at the time of booking, we are able to accommodate the following dietary restrictions: vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Please let us know if you have any severe allergies and we will do our best to accommodate. Please note, all foods are prepared off-site therefore we cannot provide day-of requests.

Vegetarian Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Crostini Toasts

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto, and Arugula on Whole Grain Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Curried Vegetarian “Chicken” Salad and Arugula on Mini Brioche Bun

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Apricot Scone with Creme Fraiche and Jam

Lemon Bar

Linzer Cookie

Vegan Menu

Upon Arrival

Vegan Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Vegan “Chicken Salad” and Arugula on Whole Wheat Bread

Vegan Mozzarella, Tomato, and Arugula with Balsamic Vinaigrette on Crostini Toast

*uses nut-based cheese substitutes

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Covered Apricot and an Assortment of Vegan Dessert Bites

Gluten-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Gluten Free Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Gluten Free Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Gluten-Free Bread

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Gluten Free Bread

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Gluten Free Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese, on Gluten Free Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

An Assortment of Gluten Free Desserts

Dairy-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Dairy-Free Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Dairy Free Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Vegan Cream Cheese, Capers, Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, Dairy Free Cheddar Cheese, Dairy Free White Bread

*Uses Nut-Based Cheeses

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Covered Apricot and an Assortment of Dairy Free Dessert Bites

Health & SafetyWe’re committed to maintaining the health and safety of our audience, artists, and staff, while ensuring that every visit to Caramoor is comfortable and enjoyable. Click below for up-to-date health and safety policies as well as information on how we’re playing our part.

Learn more

Mat Pilates with Melanie Hervey
2024-05-31 11:30 - 12:30, 2024-06-14 11:30 - 12:30
Step outside and enter the world of Mat Pilates amidst the tranquility and natural beauty of Caramoor! Led by Melanie Hervey, an experienced certified instructor and passionate global wellness entrepreneur, this debut event offers a nurturing outdoor environment where participants are guided through exercises to improve core strength and add flexibility. No matter your age or experience level, please join us: all you need to bring is a mat and a willingness to embark on a fulfilling journey towards overall well-being!

Afternoon Tea
2024-05-31 13:00 - 17:00
Afternoon Tea was one of the English traditions Lucie Rosen, founder of Caramoor, enjoyed during her time living in England in the early 1910s. She kept up the practice of inviting friends and guests to tea for many years, using the time for conversation and for planning concerts and other social events.

Tea is served in the Music Room, a unique opportunity for you to relax with friends and family in a breathtaking historic setting, featuring a large portrait of Lucie herself. The service includes a variety of tea sandwiches, scones with créme fraiche and preserves, delicious desserts, and a selection of fragrant teas.

Self-Guided Rosen House Tours (included with ticket) / Following the tea, you will also have a chance to visit select rooms of the Rosen House starting at 2:00pm, until 3:30pm. The rooms showcase fine examples of decorative arts from Europe and China including jade, porcelain, and textiles that the Rosens admired and collected.

Docent-Guided Rosen House Tours (additional fees may apply) / Preceding the tea, docent-led tours are available by appointment only; they tend to fill up quickly, so be sure to book in advance by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252. Private tours are $15 for adults, and are free for Members and children under the age of 18. In addition to stunning examples of furniture, textiles, and ceramics from Europe and China, new for 2024, visitors will have the chance to see special works by women artists in the Rosen House collection.

Menu

Adult Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on a Mini Brioche Bun

Roasted Tomato, Ricotta, and Avocado on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Children’s Menu (suitable for ages 4–12)

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roast Beef and Cheddar on Wheat

Ham and Swiss on Rye

Turkey and American Cheese on Rye

Mozzarella and Tomato on Mini Brioche Buns

Peanut Butter and Jelly on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Dietary Restrictions: With advance notice at the time of booking, we are able to accommodate the following dietary restrictions: vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Please let us know if you have any severe allergies and we will do our best to accommodate. Please note, all foods are prepared off-site therefore we cannot provide day-of requests.

Vegetarian Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Crostini Toasts

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto, and Arugula on Whole Grain Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Curried Vegetarian “Chicken” Salad and Arugula on Mini Brioche Bun

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Vegan Menu

Upon Arrival

Vegan Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Vegan “Chicken Salad” and Arugula on Whole Wheat Bread

Vegan Mozzarella, Tomato, and Arugula with Balsamic Vinaigrette on Crostini Toast

*uses nut-based cheese substitutes

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

An Assortment of Vegan Dessert Bites

Gluten-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Gluten Free Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Gluten Free Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Gluten Free Bread

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Gluten Free Bread

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Gluten Free Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese, on Gluten Free Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

An Assortment of Gluten Free Desserts

Dairy-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Dairy-Free Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Dairy Free Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Vegan Cream Cheese, Capers, Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, Dairy Free Cheddar Cheese, Dairy Free White Bread

*Uses Nut-Based Cheeses

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberry

An Assortment of Dairy Free Dessert Bites

Health & SafetyWe’re committed to maintaining the health and safety of our audience, artists, and staff, while ensuring that every visit to Caramoor is comfortable and enjoyable. Click below for up-to-date health and safety policies as well as information on how we’re playing our part.

Learn more

Mat Pilates with Melanie Hervey
2024-06-07 11:30 - 12:30
Step outside and enter the world of Mat Pilates amidst the tranquility and natural beauty of Caramoor! Led by Melanie Hervey, an experienced certified instructor and passionate global wellness entrepreneur, this debut event offers a nurturing outdoor environment where participants are guided through exercises to improve core strength and add flexibility. No matter your age or experience level, please join us: all you need to bring is a mat and a willingness to embark on a fulfilling journey towards overall well-being!Come for the stretch and stay for Tea! Get tickets to join us for Afternoon Tea in the Rosen House Music Room following this event.

Afternoon Tea
2024-06-07 13:00 - 17:00, 2024-06-14 13:00 - 17:00
Afternoon Tea was one of the English traditions Lucie Rosen, founder of Caramoor, enjoyed during her time living in England in the early 1910s. She kept up the practice of inviting friends and guests to tea for many years, using the time for conversation and for planning concerts and other social events.

Tea is served in the Music Room, a unique opportunity for you to relax with friends and family in a breathtaking historic setting, featuring a large portrait of Lucie herself. The service includes a variety of tea sandwiches, scones with créme fraiche and preserves, delicious desserts, and a selection of fragrant teas.

Self-Guided Rosen House Tours (included with ticket) / Following the tea, you will also have a chance to visit select rooms of the Rosen House starting at 2:00pm, until 3:30pm. The rooms showcase fine examples of decorative arts from Europe and China including jade, porcelain, and textiles that the Rosens admired and collected.

Docent-Guided Rosen House Tours (additional fees may apply) / Preceding the tea, docent-led tours are available by appointment only; they tend to fill up quickly, so be sure to book in advance by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252. Private tours are $15 for adults, and are free for Members and children under the age of 18. In addition to stunning examples of furniture, textiles, and ceramics from Europe and China, new for 2024, visitors will have the chance to see special works by women artists in the Rosen House collection.

Menu

Adult Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on a Mini Brioche Bun

Roasted Tomato, Ricotta, and Avocado on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Children’s Menu (suitable for ages 4–12)

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roast Beef and Cheddar on Wheat

Ham and Swiss on Rye

Turkey and American Cheese on Rye

Mozzarella and Tomato on Mini Brioche Buns

Peanut Butter and Jelly on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Covered Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Dietary Restrictions: With advance notice at the time of booking, we are able to accommodate the following dietary restrictions: vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Please let us know if you have any severe allergies and we will do our best to accommodate. Please note, all foods are prepared off-site therefore we cannot provide day-of requests.

Vegetarian Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Crostini Toasts

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto, and Arugula on Whole Grain Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Curried Vegetarian “Chicken” Salad and Arugula on Mini Brioche Bun

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Vegan Menu

Upon Arrival

Vegan Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Vegan “Chicken Salad” and Arugula on Whole Wheat Bread

Vegan Mozzarella, Tomato, and Arugula with Balsamic Vinaigrette on Crostini Toast

*uses nut-based cheese substitutes

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

An Assortment of Vegan Dessert Bites

Gluten-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Gluten Free Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Gluten Free Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Gluten Free Bread

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Gluten Free Bread

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Gluten Free Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese, on Gluten Free Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

An Assortment of Gluten Free Desserts

Dairy-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Dairy-Free Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Dairy Free Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Vegan Cream Cheese, Capers, Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, Dairy Free Cheddar Cheese, Dairy Free White Bread

*Uses Nut-Based Cheeses

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberry

An Assortment of Dairy Free Dessert Bites

Health & SafetyWe’re committed to maintaining the health and safety of our audience, artists, and staff, while ensuring that every visit to Caramoor is comfortable and enjoyable. Click below for up-to-date health and safety policies as well as information on how we’re playing our part.

Learn more

Soundscapes
2024-06-09 12:00 - 16:00
Our grounds are open! Come open your ears at Caramoor’s Soundscapes, a day to explore our sound art collection and discover a world of aural fascinations. Listen to Rivers are our Brothers, an electronic song cycle on ecological responsibility told from the point of view of the land, composed by Majel Connery. Experience Darian Donovan Thomas’ Safe Space installation, as well as a live set from the genre-bending composer and multi-instrumentalist. Try your hand at the theremin during workshops with the New York Theremin Society. Wander through our lush, enchanted gardens with your ears awakened anew. While you explore Caramoor’s innovative sound art collection, our distinguished sound artists will be on hand to share their creations for a deep sensory experience the whole family will enjoy.

This event is FREE. To learn more about the sound artists and their work, click here.

Artists

Majel Connery, vocalist & keyboard with Felix Fan, cello Darian Donovan Thomas, violin with Kalia Vandever, trombone, and Mike Haldeman, guitarRob Schwimmer, thereminDorit Chrysler, speaker

Sound Artists

Stephan Moore, Senem Pirler, Liz Phillips, Taylor Deupree, Annea Lockwood, Bob Bielecki, Ranjit Bhatnagar

Schedule

12:00pm–4:00pm / Tapestry Hedge / Safe Space installation by Darian Donovan Thomas

12:15pm / Friends Field / Welcome

12:20pm–12:45pm / Friends Field / Rob Schwimmer Theremin Demonstration & Performance

12:30pm–4:00pm / We invite you to explore our 2024 Sonic Innovations sound art exhibition throughout the grounds. Artists may be encountered near their respective works during this time.

1:00pm–2:30pm / Sunken Garden / Majel Connery & Felix Fan

1:30pm–3:30pm / Spanish Courtyard / Theremin Workshop: Learn to draw out the mysterious and haunting sounds of the world’s first electronic instrument. Bring only your hands and the music will follow.

2:45pm–3:30pm / Friends Field / Darian Donovan Thomas, Kalia Vandever, Mike Haldeman

3:30pm–4:15pm / Music Room / When Lucie Rosen Met Theremin: Discovering Caramoor’s Archives with Dorit Chrysler

Know Before You Go

Summer Season Shuttle / 11:00am–5:00pm / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. There is no RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). If it’s not there, it’s just making the loop and should be back within 5–10 minutes.

Rain or Shine / All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. In the event of severe weather, this event will be moved to covered locations.

Make the Most of Your Time at Caramoor

Explore the Rosen House from 12:00pm–4:00pm / Select rooms of the Rosen House are free to explore during our Open House hours. No RSVP is required; feel free to attend and discover more about Caramoor’s history and founders.

have questions? visit the q&a page

Learn More About the Artists

Majel Connery, vocalist & keyboard
Majel Connery is an unclassifiable artist who rarely says no to anything. Her music ranges from the guttural to the sublime, appearing in punk rock clubs at night and by day at major destinations from The Kennedy Center to The Kitchen.

A vocalist and composer, Connery combines Classical influences with an electronic mentality. Her singing has been called “superb” by the New York Times and her composition “thoroughly Schubertian” by the Wall Street Journal.

Connery is the host and producer of A Music of Their Own, an interview podcast on women in music (CapRadio/NPR). Her interest in radio began in 2019 after creating music for five episodes of Radiolab’s “Gonads” series (available on Bandcamp).

As a composer, her work includes “The Rivers are Our Brothers,” an environmental song cycle currently on tour with Grammy-winning choir Chanticleer. She has also released multiple albums with composer-collective Oracle Hysterical, and the double EP Bear Mountain/Childworld with her art-rock duo Sky Creature.

In academia, Connery has held a variety of artist residencies and professorships at institutions including Princeton, Stanford, the University of Chicago, Wellesley College, and the University of California Berkeley. From 2007-2018, she co-founded and ran the experimental opera company, Opera Cabal, a think tank for the conjunction of creative and academic work on opera. Opera Cabal’s production of ATTHIS at The Kitchen was called “mesmerizing” by the New York Times.

Connery holds an M.A/Ph.D. in ethnomusicology and musicology from the University of Chicago and an A.B. in music from Princeton University. She lives part-time in Catskill, NY, part-time in Rockaway Beach, NY, and the rest of the time in the world at large.

Visit her website here.

Felix Fan, cello
Felix Fan’s versatility has made him one of the most sought-after cellists of his generation. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, and Janos Starker, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Musikverein, and Royal Festival Hall. Fan’s recent solo engagements include the San Diego and Pacific Symphonies, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Macau Symphony Orchestra, and the Munich Chamber Orchestra. In 2006, Fan and violinist Cho-Liang Lin recorded Gordon Chin’s Double Concerto with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony (Naxos).

Fan’s interest in contemporary music has led to collaborations with today’s leading composers including George Crumb, Tan Dun, Hans Werner Henze, Oliver Knussen, Kaija Saariaho, and Charles Wuorinen. Appearances with the Bang on a Can All-Stars have allowed Fan to work with artists as diverse as Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Terry Riley, and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. In 2008, Fan joined the Flux Quartet.

In 1998, Fan founded Muzik3, a performance series and commissioning foundation dedicated to the advancement of modern music with an emphasis on integrating theater, dance, and video. Muzik3 led to the formation of Real Quiet, a trio consisting of Fan, David Cossin (percussion), and Andrew Russo (piano). Since its inception in 2004, Real Quiet has premiered over 20 works and recorded music by Marc Mellits (Endeavour Records) and David Lang (Naxos). In 2005, Fan performed a series of radio plays written by acclaimed screenwriters Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers, starring actors Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Meryl Streep. Fan has also worked with innovative choreographers Karole Armitage, Shen Wei, and Christopher Wheeldon.

Fan studied cello with Eleanore Schoenfeld (University of Southern California), Janos Starker (Indiana University), Aldo Parisot (Yale University), and Boris Pergamenschikow (Hochschule fur Musik, Cologne, Germany). In 1994, he was honored by Bill Clinton as a Presidential Scholar. Fan plays the ‘Haussman’ Stradivarius of 1724.

Visit his website here.

Rob Schwimmer, theremin
Rob Schwimmer is a composer-pianist, thereminist, keyboardist, vocalist, Haken Continuum, and Ondioline player. Rob has performed and recorded throughout the world from Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden, Tokyo Dome, The Blue Note, CBGB’s, and the Colosseum (Rome) playing for 600,000 people.

Rob Schwimmer has worked with Simon and Garfunkel, Wayne Shorter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Bobby McFerrin, Willie Nelson, Esperanza Spalding, Paul Simon, The Boston Pops, Stevie Wonder, Gotye, Laurie Anderson, Mark Morris, Chaka Khan, Laurie Anderson, Trey Anastasio, A-ha, Bette Midler, The Everly Brothers, Christian Marclay, Matthew Barney, Kat Edmonson and many more.

Robschwimmer.com

Darian Donovan Thomas, violin
Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and interdisciplinary artist Darian Donovan Thomas was born in San Antonio, Texas, and is currently based in Brooklyn, New York. He is interested in combining genres and mediums into a singular vocabulary that can express ideas about intersectionality (of medium and identity). Necessarily, he is interested in redacting all barriers to entry that have existed at the gates of any genre – this vocabulary of multiplicity will be intersectional, and therefore all-inclusive.

Darian has been commissioned by YOSA (the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio), Bang on a Can’s summer festival Banglewood, and percussionists at Bard College Conservatory, and Sam Houston State University, among others. His music has been premiered by So Percussion, YOSA, Bang on a Can Banglewood Fellows, SoSI Fellows, and performed in Iceland, Switzerland, Canada, and all around the United States.

On any given night you can find Darian performing anywhere from a salon house show to a grungy basement to a bar/venue to a formal concert hall. As a means of exercising his interdisciplinary nature, Darian is currently performing with eight bands and ensembles in New York, as well as creating interdisciplinary work in different visual mediums. He has recently performed with Moses Sumney on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in a Tiny Desk concert with critically acclaimed dreambow band Balun, toured internationally to Iceland with Apartment Sessions, toured nationally and recorded with the Katie Martucci Band, is performing with MEDIAQUEER, Mordechai, String Orchestra of Brooklyn, Prompts Collective, and constantly performs his solo set in different venues around NYC. He has toured China, England, and Wales, and has performed nationally with the Josh Abbott Band to audiences of thousands of people.

Darian received his Bachelor in Music Composition from The University of the Incarnate Word (2016) in San Antonio, Texas. He has since been a New Amsterdam Records Composer Lab Fellow (2018), So Percussion Summer Institute (SoSI) Composer Fellow (2018), Infinite Palette composer-performer for Aeon Ritual at MASSMoCA (2019), and a Bang on a Can Summer Institute “Banglewood” Composer Fellow (2019). He has studied with Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Sarah Kirkland Snider, William Brittelle, Andrea Mazzariello, and Troy Peters, amongst others.

With composition engagements scheduled through the coming year, he is currently composing for musicians in Australia, Germany, Russia, and Canada.

He is writing a piece for Piano and Orchestra which will be toured by Adam Tender and YOSA around the northeast next Summer, with a performance in Carnegie Hall.

Visit Darian’s website here.

Kalia Vandever, trombone
Kalia Vandever is an American trombonist and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her approach to the trombone is distinctive and defined by her sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational voice. She leans into the challenges of the instrument and allows patience and melody to guide her process.

In her compositional practice, Kalia draws from her love of songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. She released her debut ensemble album, In Bloom in 2019 which has been described as “the rise of an exciting voice for the music” (Seton Hawkins, Hot House Jazz Magazine). Her sophomore album, Regrowth released in May 2022 on New Amsterdam Records and “confirms her strengths as a composer and bandleader with a distinctly contemporary point of view.” (Nate Chinen, WBGO Jazz) Her debut solo album, We Fell In Turn featuring her works for trombone, voice, and electronics released on AKP Records in March 2023.

Kalia received her Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School in 2017. She has toured and performed internationally with her quartet, performing at festivals such as the Winter Jazz Festival and BRIC Jazz Festival. She is also known for her work as a side-woman, performing with jazz artists including Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkins, and Fay Victor, to name a few. She has also performed with popular artists including Harry Styles, Lizzo, Japanese Breakfast, Moses Sumney, Jennifer Hudson, and Demi Lovato. She has appeared on Saturday Night Live twice, as well as Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal.

Kalia is an awardee of the 2022 Next Jazz Legacy, a program founded by New Music USA and the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice. She was also selected to curate the 2022 Music Series for The Arts Center at Duck Creek in East Hampton.

Along with her performance work, Kalia has been commissioned to write works for groups and individuals including Tesla Quartet, The Westerlies, Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, and Hats & Heels Duo.

She is also experienced as an educator, having led masterclasses at universities including California Institute of the Arts, University of Chicago Illinois, Cal State Northridge, Saddleback College, University of Maine Farmington, and University of Missouri. She has also led clinics for organizations including CWU Jenn, Women of Jazz and Creative Music, Women in Jazz Organization, and Live From Our Living Rooms.

Kalia endorses Conn Selmer and Bach instruments as well as Denis Wick London. Visit her website here.

Mike Haldeman, guitar
To listen to Haldeman’s work, click here.

Dorit Chrysler, speaker

Born in Graz, Austria, Dorit Chrysler is a Berlin/New York-based composer, sound artist, musicologist and Theremin Virtuoso. She is the recipient of the Austrian State Stipend in Composition 2023 and the co-founder of the New York Theremin Society. A participating artist at the 2023 Shanghai Biennale, Chrysler has presented her work in solo shows at Kunstwerke Berlin and the Ny Fridman Gallery.

Since her first encounter with the Theremin, she has mastered the instrument and has applied its technology in varied art disciplines. Her work has been commissioned by MoMA (“Calder Plays Theremin”), Steirische Herbst, Knightsbridge Foundation, and Klangfestival. Chrysler has performed with the San Fransciso Symphony and at Lincoln Center and Vienna Konzerhaus, just to name a few. She has toured worldwide and has held residencies at Pioneerworks, LostandFoundLab, and Villa Tereza. Her sonic works are in collections at the Guggenheim, Brooklyn, and Louisiana Museums.

Chrysler also composed for film and theater, including the feature Happyland, excerpts of HBO’s Going Clear and MEineStadt Sucht einen Moerder, and 3 Episodes of Life, which received the Nestroy Price.

Chrysler has collaborated with the San Fransisco Symphony, CERN, Laurie Spiegel, Marie Losier, Herb Deutsch, Elliot Sharp, Trentemøller, Alva Noto, Nicole Beutler, and the Gaite Lyrique. As the artistic director of the New York Theremin Society, she promotes the application of theremin and has developed a curriculum in how to master the instrument.

Chrysler has curated and produced a ten-piece orchestra performance for the LA DisneyHall and is the founder of “Dame Electric,” a festival featuring female pioneers of electronic music. Her recordings appear on over 20 releases such as InMyRoomRecords (DE), The Prurience Factory (US), Monika Enterprise (DE), PlagDichNicht (AU), PlasticTrayRecords (US), and Mute.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Jasmine Rice LaBeija
2024-06-13 19:00 - 22:00
Jasmine Rice LaBeija is a Juilliard-trained tenor and renowned drag artist, possessed of a devastating wit, razor-sharp timing, and a commanding voice, all of which she will bring to Caramoor’s Music Room for a night of sensational music-making and entertainment. The International Godmother of the Royal House of LaBeija — recently shouted out by Beyoncé in the “Break My Soul (Queens Remix)” — has sold out Works & Process presentations at the Guggenheim Museum and 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, stay for our rainbow-lit, DJ-energized after-party with Ayo Nish! in our breezy Spanish Courtyard.

ArtistsJasmine Rice LaBeijaLachlan Glen, pianoAyo Nish!, Vibe Curator

Meet the Artists

Jasmine Rice LaBeija
Jasmine Rice LaBeija is one of the most iconic and respected nightlife entertainers in New York City. She has had a hold on the drag scene since Pride of 2012, and she is now the International Godmother of the Royal Iconic House of LaBeija. In 2017, she was one of the main cast members on the documentary series Shade: Queens of NYC on Fusion network. She was later a host of Dragged, which won a Shorty Award in Diversity & Inclusion for Verizon’s network In The Know. She was the face of 2020 New York City Pride and a featured artist at the Guggenheim Museum. More recently, she was featured in a short film called Inside & Outwards, narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, which won an Emmy Award. In 2022, she was a main cast member of a short film which premiered at the Tribeca film festival. Aside from her drag career, LaBeija is also an opera singer and a graduate of The Juilliard School. In 2022, she made her San Diego debut at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park with the San Diego Symphony, as a special guest soloist with Broadway and television star Megan Hilty, conducted by Rob Fisher. This year, LaBeija was invited to both the Guggenheim Museum and Lincoln Center to give her solo recital. She recently made her off-Broadway debut staring as Hillary Clinton in Five: The Parody Musical. She continues to further her career in both opera and drag, and she performs around the world. To learn more about Jasmine Rice LaBeija, please follow her @jasminericenyc.

Lachlan Glen, piano
Lachlan Glen is a collaborative pianist and entrepreneur who enjoys a varied career performing with his favorite artists and friends — from Ben Bliss to Susan Graham, legendary NYC drag queen Jasmine Rice LaBeija to pop/folk star Rufus Wainwright, and iconic artists from times gone by including Richard Bonynge and Renata Scotto.

His adventures have taken him from The Juilliard School and the Met Opera to the Italian Alps and the Australian outback; from NYC nightclubs to the podium of a major orchestra (yes, just one); to university classrooms, podcast studios, recording studios, and performance venues around the world.

Additionally, he founded and ran a non-profit organization, “MESS” (Mise-En-Scène Studios) for four years, raising over $400,000 to reimagine the business and performance model of classical music, and hiring 90+ young artists to perform in intimate settings around NYC.

He speaks eight languages (four of them computer languages) and has enjoyed a simultaneous career in the tech industry, having worked in positions from Software Engineer to CTO at various startups in FinTech, AdTech, Blockchain, and AI.

All of this, however, takes a backseat to his primary occupation as a family man, and he enjoys nothing more than spending time with his husband Sam and young twins, Alice and William, who bring him into the present moment every day.

Summer Season Shuttle / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. No need to RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). And if it’s not there, that means that it just left and will be back in 5-10 minutes!

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Charles Turner & Uptown Swing
2024-06-16 14:00 - 18:00
Join Caramoor as we celebrate African American freedom and achievement! Known as our country’s second Independence Day, Juneteenth commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and honors their families, heritage, and resilience. Millions celebrate this nationally and globally significant American holiday. Channeling the spirit of Harlem with vibrant swing and vital blues, Charles Turner & Uptown Swing perform music from the 1920s to the present day. Family-friendly activities complete this annual June jubilee steeped in tradition and joy. All are welcome! This event is FREE.2:00pm / Activities begin.4:00pm / The performance begins.

Activities

DOUBLE DUTCH—JUMP IN!Join Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester and Caramoor and Dance Theatre of Harlem Teaching Artist, Dianne Robinson, as they show you and your family how to Double-Dutch rope jump. Richly steeped in Black history, Double-Dutch is a powerful, joyful tradition that brings together rhythm, song, dance, teamwork, and friendship.

EXPRESS YOURSELFGuided by Antioch Baptist Church community artists, feel free to use lines and forms to celebrate yourself or someone you care about or even shout out a powerful message with color. Speak your truth as you put down on paper what your future holds!

ACTIVATELearn how you can empower your family and neighborhood with Neighbors Link with offerings such as free ESL classes, how to become a community volunteer, and more.

BRING YOUR IMAGINATIONGuided by Katonah Museum of Art educators, make your own moving artwork that explores your heritage, cultural identity, and imagined future!

WRITE YOUR FUTURE!Explore rhythm, word play, and creative self-expression through spoken word poetry and creative writing with poet, spoken word artist, community leader, and educator Thomas Ray and Bethany Arts Community!

EXPLOREStart your Juneteenth off right with a walking adventure of Caramoor’s multisensory sound art and enjoy a self-guided tour of the historic Rosen House, with a focus on women artists.

Know Before You Go

The Venue: Friends FieldA large open lawn adjacent to Concessions and restrooms, Friends Field is used for many programs throughout the summer. Food and drinks are allowed (and encouraged!) – just remember to throw out or recycle before you leave. Note that there is no built-in seating on Friends Field, so please bring your own chairs and/or blankets.

Summer Season Shuttle / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. There is no RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). If it’s not there, it’s just making the loop and should be back within 5–10 minutes. The shuttle will start running at 1:30pm, and 1 hour after the concert ends.

Rain or Shine / All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. In the event of bad weather, this Friends Field concert will move under the fully covered Venetian Theater tent. This is a large tent with open sides and seating already provided. You will no longer need to bring your own seating to this concert in this scenario.

Make the Most of Your Time at Caramoor

Explore the Rosen House from 2:00pm–4:00pm / Select rooms of the Rosen House are free to explore during our Open House hours. No RSVP is required; feel free to attend and discover more about Caramoor’s history and founders.

have questions? visit the q&a page

Learn More About Charles Turner
Charles Turner, Brooklyn-based jazz vocalist and songwriter, has taken the New York City scene by storm. Turner has held residencies, hosted, and performed at venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Smoke Jazz Club, and the historic Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem. International performances include Pizza Express in London, Sunside Sunset in Paris, Sala Claomores in Madrid, and more venues abroad from Seoul, South Korea to Wellington, New Zealand.

Turner’s passion for bringing swing and jazz to listeners of all generations and backgrounds proceeds through his new band and project, “Charles Turner & Uptown Swing.” Bringing the sound and spirit of Harlem to music lovers and dancers around the world with vibrant swing, virtuosic bebop and vital blues, the band extends music from the classic jazz era to the present under the umbrella of swing.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Summer Gala
2024-06-22 17:00
Welcome summer with an extraordinary evening at Caramoor! Celebrate our 10-year collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center and help us honor virtuoso jazz trumpeter, composer, bandleader, and longtime Caramoor friend Wynton Marsalis. Gather with your Caramoor community to sip cocktails before you settle into your premium concert seating in the Venetian Theater, where the joyful sound of big band jazz — performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra — will envelop you. After the concert, finish your memorable evening with an elegant dinner and dessert under a canopy of twinkling stars.

Individual Tickets begin at $750 and Tables of ten begin at $7,500. The non-deductible portion of each ticket is $175.

For tickets or additional details, contact events@caramoor.org or 914.232.1492.

The Evening’s Schedule

5:00pm / Cocktails on the Lawn7:00pm / Concert with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring Wynton Marsalis in the Venetian Theater Tent. The performance will last approximately 75 minutes with no intermission.8:30pm / Dinner in the Gala Tent on Friends Field immediately following the concert.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
2024-06-22 19:00 - 21:30
Join us for this high-energy celebration of Duke Ellington’s 125th birthday, guided by the maestro himself, the iconic trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis! This exhilarating night of grand-scale jazz features some of today’s most extraordinary jazz virtuosos — the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. To celebrate the musical giant’s 125th birthday, the JLCO salutes their greatest inspiration by performing some of his more socially conscious repertoire—music directed by Ted Nash.

“Marsalis, a superb technician, welds classic jazz references into a modal jazz palette. As his solo unfolded, he injected the growls, slurs, and blares of jazz’s formative years into a stream of modernist lines, holding the audience in his palm.” — Financial Times

Know Before You Go

Summer Season Shuttle / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. There is no RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). If it’s not there, it’s just making the loop and should be back within 5–10 minutes. The shuttle will start running 2.5 hours before the concert, and 30 minutes after the concert ends.

Rain or Shine / All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. However, this performance is under our fully covered Venetian Theater tent.

have questions? visit the q&a page

Learn More About the Artists

Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis is the Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Born in New Orleans in 1961 to a musical family, Marsalis was gifted his first trumpet at age six and soon began playing in the famed Fairview Baptist Church Band. At 12, he began his formal training and performed with groups all over the city, including the New Orleans Philharmonic and New Orleans Youth Orchestra. As a teenager, Marsalis moved to New York City and joined Art Blakey’s band, The Jazz Messengers. By 19, he hit the road with his own band and has been touring the world ever since.

Marsalis made his recording debut as a leader in 1982 and has since recorded 110 jazz and classical albums, four alternative records, and five DVDs. Marsalis is the winner of nine Grammy Awards, and his oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

As a composer, his work includes over 600 original songs, 11 ballets, four symphonies, eight suites, two chamber pieces, one string quartet, two masses, one violin concerto, and a tuba concerto. As part of his work at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Marsalis has produced and performed countless new collaborative compositions, including the ballet Them Twos, for a 1999 collaboration with the New York City Ballet. That same year, he premiered the monumental work All Rise, commissioned and performed by the New York Philharmonic along with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Morgan State University Choir.

Marsalis is a globally respected teacher and spokesman for music education. He led the effort to construct Jazz at Lincoln Center’s new home — Frederick P. Rose Hall — the first education, performance, and broadcast facility devoted to jazz, which opened in October 2004. He conducts educational programs for students of all ages and hosts the popular Jazz for Young People™ concerts produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center. In addition to his work at JALC, he is also the Founding Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School.

Marsalis has written and is the host of the video series Marsalis on Music, the radio series Making the Music, and a weekly conversation series titled Skain’s Domain. He has been appointed Messenger of Peace by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan (2001), and he received the National Medal of Arts (2005) and the National Medal of Humanities (2016). In December 2021, Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center were awarded the Key to New York City by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Marsalis has received honorary doctorates from 39 universities and colleges throughout the U.S, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Tulane.

To learn more about Wynton Marsalis, please visit his website.

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), comprising 15 of the finest jazz soloists and ensemble players today, has been the Jazz at Lincoln Center resident orchestra since 1988 and spends over a third of the year on tour across the world. Featured in all aspects of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s programming, this remarkably versatile orchestra performs and leads educational events in New York, across the U.S., and around the globe, in concert halls, dance venues, jazz clubs, public parks, and with symphony orchestras, ballet troupes, local students, and an ever-expanding roster of guest artists.

Under Music Director Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra performs a vast repertoire, from rare historic compositions to Jazz at Lincoln Center-commissioned works, including compositions and arrangements by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fletcher Henderson, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus, and current and former Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members: Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Ted Nash, Victor Goines, Sherman Irby, Chris Crenshaw, and Carlos Henriquez.

Throughout the last decade, JLCO has performed with many of the world’s leading symphony orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and many others. JLCO has also been featured in several education and performance residencies in the last few years around the world.

Education is a major part of JLCO’s mission; its educational activities are coordinated with concert and JLCO tour programming. These programs, many of which feature JLCO members, include the celebrated Jazz for Young People™ family concert series; the Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival; the Jazz for Young People™ Curriculum; Let Freedom Swing, educational residencies; workshops; and concerts for students and adults worldwide.

Jazz at Lincoln Center educational programs reach over 110,000 students, teachers, and general audience members.

For more information on Jazz at Lincoln Center and JLCO, please visit the Jazz at Lincoln Center website.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Chamber Feast
2024-06-23 16:00 - 17:00
Indulge in the timeless melodies, rich harmonies, and profound depth of chamber music by Mendelssohn and Brahms, two composers who span the range of the Romantic era, performed by alumni of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program.

ProgramFelix Mendelssohn: String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87 Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 60

ArtistsClaire Bourg, violin Stephanie Zyzak, violin Tanner Menees, viola Zhanbo Zheng, viola Oliver Herbert, cello Janice Carissa, piano

Know Before You Go

Summer Season Shuttle / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. There is no RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). If it’s not there, it’s just making the loop and should be back within 5–10 minutes. The shuttle will start running 2.5 hours before the concert, and 30 minutes after the concert ends.

Rain or Shine / All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. However, this performance is under our fully covered Venetian Theater tent.

Make the Most of Your Time at Caramoor

Explore the Rosen House from 2:00pm–3:30pm / Select rooms of the Rosen House are free to explore during our Open House hours. No RSVP is required; feel free to attend and discover more about Caramoor’s history and founders.

have questions? visit the q&a page

Learn More About the Artists

Claire Bourg, violin

Violinist Claire Bourg has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in many of the world’s leading venues, including Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Kimmel Center, and Jordan Hall. Most recently, she was a soloist with the Camerata Bern in Hannover, Germany as part of the Joachim International Violin Competition. Bourg was granted the 2021 Luminarts Fellowship, awarded second prize at the 2020 Barbash J.S. Bach Competition, and won the New England Conservatory Competition. She performs regularly with Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Music for Food, Chameleon Arts Ensemble, Curtis on Tour, and currently serves as concertmaster of Symphony in C. A passionate chamber musician, Bourg has attended festivals such as Marlboro, Yellow Barn, Ravinia, Taos, among others. A native of Chicago, Bourg studied with such artists as Miriam Fried, Pamela Frank, Arnold Steinhardt, and Joseph Lin at the New England Conservatory, Curtis Institute of Music, and The Juilliard School, where she held a Kovner Fellowship. She is now pursuing her Doctorate at the CUNY Graduate Center with Mark Steinberg. Bourg currently performs on a violin by Zosimo Bergonzi of Cremona, c. 1770 on generous loan through Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins, Chicago. Bourg is a 2021 and 2022 alum of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program. To learn more about her, please visit her website.

Stephanie Zyzak, violin

Praised for her sensitive musicianship and heartfelt playing, violinist Stephanie Zyzak is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most soulful and profound musicians of her generation. Since making her debut in 2004 with the Louisville Orchestra, Zyzak has performed as a soloist throughout Germany, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Italy, and France. A deeply passionate chamber musician, she has had the privilege of collaborating with renowned musicians including Jonathan Biss, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, Alice Neary, Danny Phillips, Marcy Rosen, and Mitsuko Uchida. She has also performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, as well as on tour with Musicians From Marlboro. Zyzak studied with Miriam Fried and Mark Steinberg and performs on a 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, generously on loan from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, and a bow by François-Nicolas Voirin. She is a 2021 and 2022 alum of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program. To learn more about her, please visit her website.

Tanner Menees, viola

Violist Tanner Menees is forging an enviable career as a chamber musician. He has collaborated in chamber music performances with artists including Miriam Fried, Susan Graham, Lynn Harrell, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Susanna Phillips, Mitsuko Uchida, Donald Weilerstein, Carol Wincenc, and the Calidore Quartet. Menees has performed internationally at festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Edinburgh Music Festival, and NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago. Committed to new music, he frequently performs with Copland House, and he has performed as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra and Symphony New Hampshire. Menees plays on a viola of the Tarasconi school made in Milan, Italy c. 1880 courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins. He is a 2021 and 2022 alum of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program.

Zhanbo Zheng, viola

Zhanbo Zheng, a concert violist based in New York City, is the first Chinese musician to have won the Primrose International Viola Competition. He is also the laureate of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition and the Washington International Competition for Strings. As a soloist, Zheng has performed with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and China Broadcasting Performing Arts Orchestra. An avid chamber musician, Zheng has made appearances in music festivals including Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Music@Menlo, and Verbier Festival Academy. He has performed as a guest artist at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and has toured the U.S. several times with Musicians from Marlboro and Ravinia Steans Music Institute, giving performances in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kaufman Music Center, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Zheng earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the New England Conservatory where he studied with Kim Kashkashian, Miriam Fried, and Dominique Eade. He is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma at The Juilliard School under the mentorship of Paul Neubauer. Zheng is a 2017 and 2019 alum of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program. To learn more about him, please visit his website.

Oliver Herbert, cello

Oliver Herbert is a concert cellist with a rapidly growing international presence. The recipient of a 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Herbert’s natural musicianship and connective performances are carving a unique path in the world of music. As a soloist, he has appeared with world-renowned orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Juanjo Mena, and Alexander Shelley. He appears regularly at leading chamber music festivals and venues such as the Rheingau Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Marlboro, La Jolla SummerFest, Verbier Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, the 92nd Street Y, and the Ravinia Festival. He has performed with luminaries such as Mitsuko Uchida and Tabea Zimmermann.

Herbert is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Colburn School, where he studied with Carter Brey, Pamela Frank, Clive Greensmith, and Peter Wiley. He is now a student of Frans Helmerson in the professional studies program at the Kronberg Academy, generously funded by the Nanno Lenz patronage. He plays on a Guadagnini cello that belonged to the great Italian cellist Antonio Janigro, on generous loan from the Janigro family. Herbert is a 2016 and 2019 alum of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program. To learn more about him, please visit his website.

Janice Carissa, piano

A Gilmore Young Artist and winner of Salon de Virtuosi, Janice Carissa has garnered great acclaim for her performances at renowned concert halls, including the Sydney Opera House, Carnegie Hall, United Nations, and the Kennedy Center, among others. Following her Philadelphia Orchestra debut at age 16, she substituted for André Watts as soloist with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and later performed with many other orchestras including the Kansas City, Amarillo, Des Moines, St. Peters by the Sea, Symphony in C, and Midwest Young Artist symphonies. In 2023, she was a featured soloist with Sacramento Philharmonic, Promusica Chamber Orchestra, Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and the Tacoma and Battlecreek symphonies.

Carissa’s passion for chamber music has led her to performances with Brooklyn Chamber Music Society and Jupiter Chamber Concert Series, along with collaborations with many distinguished artists such as Vadim Gluzman, Miriam Fried, Paul Neuebauer, and Marcy Rosen. She has appeared at the Marlboro, North Shore, Ravinia, and Kneisel Hall festivals.

A pupil of Gary Graffman and Robert McDonald, Carissa attended the Curtis Institute of Music, and pursued her graduate degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Robert McDonald. She is a 2019, 2021, and 2023 alum of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program. To learn more about her, please visit her website.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Abeo Quartet
2024-06-27 19:00 - 20:30
The Abeo Quartet caps off its year-long residency at Caramoor by delving into a diverse program of string quartets, including the world premiere of a new string quartet by Jessica Mays, commissioned by Caramoor. Formed in 2018, Abeo is swiftly sweeping up the competition prizes and garnering critical praise worldwide. You’ll understand why their name (“ah- bey-oh”) — an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect — perfectly encapsulates the group’s love for playing chamber music and sharing it with others.

Artists

Abeo QuartetNjioma Grevious, violinRebecca Benjamin, violinJames Kang, violaMac Taback, cello

Program

Joaquin Turina: La Oración del Torero, Op. 34 Erwin Schulhoff: 5 Pieces for String QuartetRhiannon Giddens: At the Purchaser’s OptionJessica Mays: A Shoreline Willow (World Premiere, Commissioned by Caramoor)Sergei Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 2, Op. 92 in F Major

Know Before You Go

Summer Season Shuttle / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. There is no RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). If it’s not there, it’s just making the loop and should be back within 5–10 minutes. The shuttle will start running 2.5 hours before the concert, and 30 minutes after the concert ends.

Rain or Shine / All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. In the event of bad weather, this Spanish Courtyard concert will move under the Venetian Theater tent (with open-air sides) or into the Music Room (fully indoors).

have questions? visit the q&a page

Learn More About the Quartet
The Abeo Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2018, was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet from 2021–2023. Abeo’s recent accomplishments include Third Prize at the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition, making the semi-finals at the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and being among ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. The quartet was also a First Prize and Audience Favorite Prize winner in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles and Silver Medal winner of the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, both in 2022. Additionally, Abeo was a finalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists International Competition and the silver medal winner of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Members of the quartet are violinists Njioma Grevious and Rebecca Benjamin, violist James Kang and newest member, cellist Macintyre Taback. Recent highlights have included performances at Music@Menlo, the Schneider Concert Series, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and collaborations with members of the Calidore and Dover string quartets.

In March 2024, Abeo returned to perform at the Kennedy Center, having been featured there in 2019 with distinguished pianist Joseph Kalichstein at the Reach Opening Festival. The 2023–2024 season has also brought a yearlong residency for Abeo as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY., with performances coming up in April and June that will include outreach to young listeners and others who are unable to attend live concerts. Abeo will also perform this spring at Emerald City Music in Seattle alongside the Calidore String Quartet.

Past Abeo highlights include performances at Alice Tully Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s masterclass series with the Danish String Quartet, and on WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces. Abeo was invited to perform in Norway’s 2019 Vertavo Festival, performing seven Haydn string quartets and was in residence at the Glenstone Museum, debuting “Moonshot” by Alistair Coleman. The quartet has studied and performed at Music@Menlo, with the Emerson Quartet at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and with the Brentano String Quartet at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Abeo was coached by members of Quatuor Ébéne, Alban Berg, Takács, Artemis, Cecilia and Meta4 String Quartets.

During their time at Juilliard, Abeo studied regularly in the Honors Chamber Music Program under the tutelage of The Juilliard String Quartet with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween and Roger Tapping. The quartet chose the name Abeo / ah – bey – oh / — an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect — to reflect their love for playing chamber music and sharing it with others.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Afternoon Tea
2024-06-28 13:00 - 17:00
Afternoon Tea was one of the English traditions Lucie Rosen, founder of Caramoor, enjoyed during her time living in England in the early 1910s. She kept up the practice of inviting friends and guests to tea for many years, using the time for conversation and for planning concerts and other social events.

Tea is served in the Music Room, a unique opportunity for you to relax with friends and family in a breathtaking historic setting, featuring a large portrait of Lucie herself. The service includes a variety of tea sandwiches, scones with créme fraiche and preserves, delicious desserts, and a selection of fragrant teas.

Docent-Guided Rosen House Tours (additional fees may apply) / Preceding the tea, docent-led tours are available by appointment only; they tend to fill up quickly, so be sure to book in advance by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252. Private tours are $15 for adults, and are free for Members and children under the age of 18. In addition to stunning examples of furniture, textiles, and ceramics from Europe and China, new for 2024, visitors will have the chance to see special works by women artists in the Rosen House collection.

Menu

Adult Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on a Mini Brioche Bun

Roasted Tomato, Ricotta, and Avocado on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Children’s Menu (suitable for ages 4–12)

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roast Beef and Cheddar on Wheat

Ham and Swiss on Rye

Turkey and American Cheese on Rye

Mozzarella and Tomato on Mini Brioche Buns

Peanut Butter and Jelly on White Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Covered Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Dietary Restrictions: With advance notice at the time of booking, we are able to accommodate the following dietary restrictions: vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, and gluten-free. Please let us know if you have any severe allergies and we will do our best to accommodate. Please note, all foods are prepared off-site therefore we cannot provide day-of requests.

Vegetarian Menu

Upon Arrival

Cranberry-Orange Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Crostini Toasts

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto, and Arugula on Whole Grain Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Curried Vegetarian “Chicken” Salad and Arugula on Mini Brioche Bun

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

Lemon Bar

Vanilla Crème Flake Cookie

Vegan Menu

Upon Arrival

Vegan Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Hummus and Roasted Veggies on Rye Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Vegan “Chicken Salad” and Arugula on Whole Wheat Bread

Vegan Mozzarella, Tomato, and Arugula with Balsamic Vinaigrette on Crostini Toast

*uses nut-based cheese substitutes

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberry

An Assortment of Vegan Dessert Bites

Gluten-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Gluten Free Scone with Crème Fraiche and Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Roasted Tomato, Avocado, and Ricotta on Gluten Free Bread

Cucumber and Mint Cream Cheese on Gluten Free Bread

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Gluten Free Bread

Smoked Salmon, Chive Cream Cheese, and Capers on Gluten Free Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, and Cheddar Cheese, on Gluten Free Bread

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

An Assortment of Gluten Free Desserts

Dairy-Free Menu

Upon Arrival

Dairy-Free Scone with Jam

Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad and Arugula on Dairy Free Bread

Avocado, Roasted Tomato, and “Ricotta” on Crostini Toast

Smoked Salmon, Vegan Cream Cheese, Capers, Rye Bread

Cucumber and Mint Vegan Cream Cheese on Black Bread

Roast Beef, Onion Jam, Dairy Free Cheddar Cheese, Dairy Free White Bread

*Uses Nut-Based Cheeses

Teas

Ceylon Waltz Black Tea

Earl Grey Moonlight Sonata Black Tea

Raspberry-Pomegranate Iced Tea

Desserts

Dark Chocolate Covered Strawberry

An Assortment of Dairy Free Dessert Bites

Health & SafetyWe’re committed to maintaining the health and safety of our audience, artists, and staff, while ensuring that every visit to Caramoor is comfortable and enjoyable. Click below for up-to-date health and safety policies as well as information on how we’re playing our part.

Learn more

Roomful of Teeth
2024-06-28 19:30 - 22:00
The extraordinary vocal acrobatics of Roomful of Teeth will expand your understanding of what the human voice can achieve. This Grammy-winning octet and self-described “vocal band” will take you on a mind-bending journey, blending diverse vocal techniques and styles in works written for (and with) them by some of today’s most exciting composers, including three from their most recent recording, Rough Magic.

ProgramCaroline Shaw: The Isle Leilehua Lanzilotti: On Stochastic Wave Behavior Angelica Negrón: Math, the sweet one Peter Shin: GaNaDaRaMaBaSa AJaChaKaTaPaHa from Bits torn from wordsWilliam Brittelle: Psychedelics

“Experimentation may be this group’s calling card, but its essence is pure joy.” — The Boston Globe

Know Before You Go

The Venue: Friends FieldA large open lawn adjacent to Concessions and restrooms, Friends Field is used for many programs throughout the summer. Food and drinks are allowed (and encouraged!) – just remember to throw out or recycle before you leave. Note that there is no built-in seating on Friends Field, so please bring your own chairs and/or blankets.

Summer Season Shuttle / Take the FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah train station to and from Caramoor! The shuttle runs before and after every summer afternoon and evening concert. There is no RSVP to get on the shuttle, it will be there when you arrive (in the parking lot side of the station). If it’s not there, it’s just making the loop and should be back within 5–10 minutes. The shuttle will start running 2.5 hours before the concert, and 30 minutes after the concert ends.

Rain or Shine / All events at Caramoor take place rain or shine. In the event of bad weather, this Friends Field concert will move under the fully covered Venetian Theater tent. This is a large tent with open sides and seating already provided. You will no longer need to bring your own seating to this concert in this scenario.

Make the Most of Your Time at Caramoor

Explore the Rosen House from 5:30pm–7:00pm / Select rooms of the Rosen House are free to explore during our Open House hours. No RSVP is required; feel free to attend and discover more about Caramoor’s history and founders.

have questions? visit the q&a page

Learn More About Roomful of Teeth
Roomful of Teeth is a Grammy Award-winning vocal band dedicated to reimagining the expressive potential of the human voice. By engaging collaboratively with artists, thinkers, and community leaders from around the world, the group seeks to uplift and amplify voices old and new while creating and performing meaningful and adventurous music using a continuously expanding vocabulary of singing techniques. Roomful of Teeth has built a significant and ever-growing catalog of music through deep collaboration with a broad range of composers including Julia Wolfe, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, William Brittelle, Angélica Negrón, inti figgis-vizueta, Paola Prestini, Nathalie Joachim, Caroline Shaw, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Anna Clyne, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Cava Menzies, Judd Greenstein, Terry Riley, Toby Twining, Ted Hearne, Eve Beglarian, Caleb Burhans, Ambrose Akinmusire, Michael Harrison, Peter S. Shin, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. Recent appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, King’s Place in London, and the Barbican. The group has also performed commissioned works for Roomful of Teeth and orchestra with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, The Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony, and others, and have also moved into stage work with the visionary opera director Peter Sellars in Claude Vivier’s opera, Kopernikus. Roomful of Teeth discography includes their eponymous first album, released in 2012, which was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and featured Roomful of Teeth member Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer Prize-winning piece Partita for 8 Voices. Other recordings include Render (2015), The Colorado (2016), Yo-Yo Ma’s Silkroad Ensemble’s album Sing Me Home which won the 2016 Grammy for Best World Music Album, and two EPs: The Ascendant (Wally Gunn) and Just Constellations (Michael Harrison). Their newest album, Rough Magic, was released in May 2023 to ecstatic critical acclaim and received two Grammy nominations. Teeth’s recordings have been featured on television and in film, including Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline, Netflix’s Dark, Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, and Homecoming: A Film by Beyoncé.

Roomful of Teeth is devoted to creating beauty and community with passionate curiosity, contagious enthusiasm, and deep gratitude.

To learn more about Roomful of Teeth, please visit their website.

Caramoor is proud to be a grantee of ArtsWestchester with funding made possible by Westchester County government with the support of County Executive George Latimer.

All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
