If you’ve been to Caramoor, you already know what a treasure it is, but if you’re new to the area, or haven’t been in a while, then it’s time to discover or rediscover Caramoor’s summer music programming!
The season kicks off June 17 with a very special concert featuring the stellar vocalist Audra McDonald with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, performing classics from the American Songbook. The music continues the next day with a Hot Jazz Age Frolic featuring the Eyal Vilner Big Band (bring your dancing shoes!) and continues through August 18 with a concert on the lawn by Neal Francis, who according to Rolling Stone Magazine, “is making piano rock cool again”.
In between there are over 40 concerts, featuring performances by world-renowned artists with local ties, including Hélène Grimaud, Garrick Ohlsson, Alisa Weilerstein, Sandbox Percussion, and 2023 Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album Grammy winner Samara Joy. The summer also includes Davóne Tines, The Harlem Gospel Travelers, Brooklyn Rider, Pekka Kuusisto and Nico Muhly; Caccini’s Alcina and Handel’s Acis and Galatea, Arooj Aftab – the first Pakistani woman to win a Grammy – performing with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily, Ukranian group DakhaBrakha, global superstar and Grammy Award winner Oumou Sangaré, Mary Chapin Carpenter, The American Roots Music Festival featuring Brandy Clark, the Jazz Festival featuring Cécile McLorin Salvant, and much more.
On July 2, the Westchester Symphonic Winds return for the popular Pops & Patriots concert, and on July 8, Ted Sperling will host a very special program titled “Over the Rainbow: The Songs of Harold Arlen”.
Caramoor is located on an 80-acre estate in Katonah NY and offers music lovers exceptional curated concert events across genres in incomparable settings.
In the words of Kathy Schuman, Caramoor’s Artistic Director: “Each summer, we try to curate an extremely broad variety of music, and one of the most fun parts of my job is choosing, from among our many beautiful venues, the perfect setting for each performance, whether it be orchestras and opera in the dramatic Venetian Theater, chamber music in the intimate Spanish Courtyard, Saturday morning deep listening in the Sunken Garden, casual global, jazz, or American Roots concerts on picnic-ready Friends Field and, of course, our all-day, multiple stage festivals and annual free site-specific event (Ted Hearne’s Farming with The Crossing this year). With so many different ways to enjoy music at Caramoor, I truly believe experiencing a performance here is unlike anywhere else in the greater New York area.”
Caramoor’s grounds will open for summer on June 4 with Soundscapes, a free event, in which everyone is welcome to discover a fascinating world of sounds through Caramoor’s Sonic Innovations sound art exhibition featuring live performances and the opportunity to meet the sound artists while exploring this unique and innovative collection spread throughout Caramoor’s wooded paths and grounds.
A second free event takes place Sunday, July 9, when The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally, performs FARMING, a stirring new oratorio by Ted Hearne written specifically for this choir and scored for 24 vocalists with guitars, keyboard, and percussion, set near Caramoor’s Sunken Garden, allowing the audience to explore and listen to this explosive work as it unfolds.
New this summer are two Saturday afternoon indoor recitals in the Music Room, a Concerts for Little Ones series offered in July, and a collaboration with the Bedford Riding Lanes Association in which attendees of Caramoor’s Music & Meditation in the Garden programs on July 1st and 15th can add a pre-event 45 minute, 1.75 mile hike before joining the mindful listening program in the Sunken Garden.
Edward J. Lewis III, Caramoor’s President and Chief Executive Officer, elaborates: “True to the vision of our founders, Caramoor is the place where you can be transformed by the convergence of an exciting and diverse mix of remarkable live music performances, stunning gardens and grounds, and the beauty of an art-filled historic home. The Caramoor experience leaves both the artist and audience refreshed and renewed and compels all to return again and again.”
Whether you go to see a favorite artist, or to discover a new one, build in some time to explore the grounds and gardens, tour the historic Rosen House, discover the sound art, and enjoy the lively picnic scene with friends and family, a visit to Caramoor is sure to leave you renewed and inspired!
Information and tickets: caramoor.org
