Caramoor Swings into Spring with Characteristic Breadth of Programming in Refurbished Music Room (March 13–June 1)
Caramoor swings into spring with a wealth of the diverse and imaginative programming that is its defining hallmark. Lovers of art song, chamber music, ragtime, jazz, cabaret, Broadway, American roots, and flamenco alike are invited to enjoy the newly configured Music Room in the historic Rosen House, where – amid the authentic Renaissance furniture and Gothic tapestries – new seating now offers an even more comfortable listening experience. Spring highlights include a New York premiere from the resident Aizuri Quartet; a sold-out set from the Anat Cohen Quartet, presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center; a creatively curated showcase for the emerging young singers of Vocal Rising Stars; and the return of Edward Arron & Friends, Caramoor’s celebrated chamber series. Thanks to “a programming philosophy that balances hedonism and exploration,” Caramoor is, as the New York Times recognizes, “a must for music lovers.”
Vocal Rising Stars in the Rosen House Music Room at Caramoor (photo: Gabe Palacio)
Vocal Rising Stars: “At Home” (March 13)
The first opportunity to enjoy the Music Room’s welcoming new setup comes when the four young singers of Schwab Vocal Rising Stars, Caramoor’s rigorous vocal coaching program, present “At Home” (March 13). Developed in conjunction with the New York Festival of Song, this site-specific program combines art songs by Saint-Saëns, Bernstein, Poulenc, Villa-Lobos, Montsalvatge, Bucchino, and others into a series of song cycles, each themed to a different room, with listeners seated in a semi-circle around the performers. Steven Blier, Artistic Director of the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars, explains:
“This year our program is about the rooms of a house: intrigues in the parlor, the kitchen, the nursery, the dressing room, and the bedroom. … We’ll use an expanded playing area on the floor of the Music Room to delineate each room of our music-filled home – our first environmental recital. Our musical program ranges freely through many languages and eras, requiring a vocally skilled, theatrically savvy cast. I lucked out with four fireball singer-actors – Liv Redpath, Abigail Levis, Galeano Salas, and Justin Austin – and a fabulous young pianist as well, Will Kelley. Fasten your seatbelts.”
The many Vocal Rising Stars alumni who have gone on to enjoy thriving international careers include tenor Andrew Owens, who looks forward to headlining this summer’s “Bel Canto at Caramoor” presentation of Rossini’s Aureliano in Palmira. For high-resolution photos of the current Vocal Rising Stars, click here.
Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence: Aizuri Quartet (April 10 & 17)
This year’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence is the Aizuri Quartet, two of whose members are alumnae of Evnin Rising Stars, Caramoor’s intensive chamber mentorship program. A top prizewinner at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, the Aizuri has proven itself to be “in full possession of that most elusive of string quartet qualities: the balance between charisma of the individual and cohesion of the collective” (Philadelphia Inquirer). For its upcoming Music Room recital, the group presents the New York premiere of Blueprint, a new work by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw. Commissioned and written for the Aizuris, Shaw’s new piece forms the centerpiece of a program bookended by Beethoven and Schumann (April 10). Their yearlong residency also sees the Aizuris function as ambassadors for Caramoor, working with local schools and taking their program on the road to the 19th-century Carriage Barn at Waveny Park in New Canaan, CT, where, as has become traditional for Caramoor’s quartets-in-residence, they will perform in the Caramoor@Waveny series (April 10). Click here to see the Aizuri Quartet play Beethoven.
Chamber music: Edward Arron & Friends (April 9)
As the New Yorker remarks, ever since Caramoor’s founding, “chamber music has been a vital part of the enterprise, [and] in recent years, the quietly charismatic cellist Edward Arron has been a major player.” Caramoor’s beloved chamber series Edward Arron & Friends returns with a program of Beethoven, Chausson, and Ravel (April 9). The cellist is an alumnus of Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program, as is Grammy-nominated pianist Adam Neiman. They will be joined by Maria Bachmann, “a violinist of soul” (New York Times), and Hsin-Yun Huang, former violist of the Borromeo String Quartet. Among Evnin Rising Stars’ many illustrious graduates is renowned American pianist and scholar Jonathan Biss, Artist-in-
Residence at the 2016 summer music season.
Edward Arron & Friends (photo: Gabe Palacio)
Jazz in the Music Room: Anat Cohen Quartet (April 2)
It was last summer that Caramoor launched a new programming collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and this spring’s sold-out “Jazz in the Music Room” event marks another co-presentation with the world-renowned organization. Hailed as “a woodwind revelation of dark tones and delicious lyricism” (DownBeat), Israeli-American clarinetist and saxophonist Anat Cohen and her quartet synthesize influences from Klezmer to Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Argentinean, Colombian, and choro, Rio’s answer to the early New Orleans jazz scene. In true Caramoor style, the group’s Saturday night set will be followed by an Afterglow Reception, complete with wine, beer, and snacks for the whole audience (April 2). As Jazz Times puts it, “Caramoor is a perfect day trip for city slickers who want to hear some of the most prominent jazz artists of the day.” Click here to see the Anat Cohen Quartet perform at the Pancevo Jazz Festival.
Roots Music in the Music Room: The Small Glories (April 16)
The dynamic Canadian folk/roots duo The Small Glories, featuring Wailin’ Jennys founder Cara Luft, makes a rare local appearance for an intimate performance and a post-show Afterglow Reception. Singer-songwriter Joe Crookston returns to Caramoor to open the evening.
Ragtime, cabaret, flamenco and more
Rounding out Caramoor’s inviting spring lineup is an array of offerings as impressive as they are eclectic. Juilliard-trained concert pianist and Harvard-educated psychiatrist Dr. Richard Kogan presents his signature exploration of “The Mind and Music of Scott Joplin” (April 26), a concert with commentary that prompted Yo-Yo Ma to marvel:
“I came away from this extraordinary lecture and performance deeply moved by a fascinating presentation that only Dr. Kogan, psychiatrist and concert pianist, can deliver.”
Tony nominee Marin Mazzie and Emmy nominee Jason Danieley – Broadway’s golden couple both on and off the stage – make their Caramoor debut with “He Said/She Said,” a special “Cabaret in the Music Room” benefit evening, after which the artists will join the audience for a champagne and dessert reception (May 14). Click here to see Mazzie and Danieley performing together.
The Wednesday Morning Concert Series, which can include a tour of Rosen House and a seasonal buffet lunch, provides the perfect opportunity to explore Caramoor’s “bucolic, picnic-friendly settings” (New York Times). Soprano Kelly Smith Slawson, an Apprentice Artist for Caramoor’s Bel Canto opera program in Summer 2015, returns to the Music Room accompanied by Bel Canto assistant chorus master and pianist Derrick Goff (May 11); Award-winning vocalist Kimberly Hawkey treats audiences to Broadway and Hollywood classics from the American Songbook (May 18); husband-and-wife guitar and mandolin duo Judy Handler and Mark Levesque return to Caramoor for a sold-out Mediterranean-themed recital (May 25); and Bard Dance and Theater Award-winner Isabel del Día gives an al fresco flamenco performance against the romantic backdrop of Caramoor’s Spanish Courtyard (June 1).
About Caramoor
For more than 70 years, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts has been a leading destination for music lovers. Comprising a Mediterranean revival villa showcasing treasures acquired by the Rosens, including period rooms from European villas and palaces, set on 90 acres of gardens and serene woodlands in Westchester County, NY, the estate is just 40 miles north of Manhattan. Summer concerts take place in two outdoor theaters – the 1,546-seat, acoustically superb Venetian Theater, and the more intimate, romantic 500-seat Spanish Courtyard – as well as in the picturesque gardens, which include a Sense Circle for the visually impaired, Sunken Garden, Butterfly Garden, Tapestry Hedge, and Iris and Peony Garden. Audiences are invited to come early to explore the grounds, tour the historic Rosen House, enjoy a relaxing Sunday afternoon tea, or unwind with a pre-concert picnic. Click here for a short video history of Caramoor and the Rosen House.
In addition to the summer season, Caramoor presents concerts all year round in the magnificent Rosen House Music Room. Through an impressive range of education programs, Caramoor serves more than 6,000 students in the New York metropolitan area, besides boasting an array of highly successful mentorship programs designed for young professionals who have completed their conservatory training. Over the past 20 years, alumni from these programs have become leaders of the next classical generation, whose accomplishments include winning a MacArthur Fellowship, becoming first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet, and appointment as the Concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.
Getting to Caramoor
Getting to Caramoor is simple by car, train or public transportation. All parking is free and close to the performance areas. Accessible parking is also free and readily available.
By car from New York City, take the Henry Hudson Parkway north to the Saw Mill River Parkway north to I-684 north to Exit 6. Go east on Route 35 to the traffic light (0.3 miles). Turn right onto Route 22 south, and travel 1.9 miles to the junction of Girdle Ridge Road where there is a green Caramoor sign. At the junction, veer left and make a quick right onto Girdle Ridge Road. Continue on Girdle Ridge Road 0.5 miles to the Caramoor gates on the right. Approximate drive time is one hour.
By train from Grand Central Station, take the Harlem Division Line of the Metro North Railroad heading to Southeast, and exit at Katonah. Caramoor is a 3.5-mile drive from the Katonah station, where taxi service is always available and shuttle service is available for the American Roots Music and Jazz Festivals. For current information, check the Metro North schedule.
For the opera performances, Caramoor offers ticketed, round-trip transportation from NYC on the Caramoor Coach, a luxury air-conditioned coach traveling from Grand Central/Lexington Ave to Caramoor’s front door and back. To learn more, contact the Box Office.
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Caramoor: spring season
March 13
Music Room, Rosen House
Vocal Rising Stars
“The Parlor”
Chausson: La nuit
Haines: Cigarette
Saint-Saëns: El desdichado
Massenet: Sevillana
Quilter: To Daisies
Balfe: Trust Her Not
“The Kitchen”
Villa-Lobos: Food for Thought
Bernstein: Tavouk Guenksis
Bucchino: Painting My Kitchen
“The Nursery”
Montsalvatge: El lagarto está llorand
Hahn: My Ship and I
Milhaud: Tais-toi, babillarde
“The Dressing Room”
Mahoney: I Love Me
“The Bedroom”
Poulenc: C’est ainsi que tu es
Berg: Im Zimmer
Bacewicz: Boli mnie glowa
Mascagni: Serenata
Gurney: Sleep
Liv Redpath, soprano; Abigail Levis, mezzo-soprano; Galeano Salas, tenor; Justin Austin, baritone
With William Kelley, piano
Steven Blier, Artistic Director, Schwab Vocal Rising Stars, coach, piano, and arrangements
Michael Barrett, coach and piano
Alison Moritz, stage director
April 2
Music Room, Rosen House
Jazz: Anat Cohen Quartet
Presented in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
* Sold out
April 9
Music Room, Rosen House
Edward Arron & Friends
Beethoven: Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op. 16
Ravel: Sonata for Violin and Cello
Chausson: Piano Quartet in A, Op. 30
Adam Neiman, piano; Maria Bachmann, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; Edward Arron, Artistic Director of Edward Arron & Friends, and cello
April 10
Caramoor@Waveny
Aizuri Quartet, 2015-16 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence
Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 6
Caroline Shaw: String Quartet (title TBD)
Schumann: String Quartet, Op. 41, No. 3
April 16
Music Room, Rosen House
American Roots: The Small Glories and Joe Crookston
April 17
Music Room, Rosen House
Aizuri Quartet, 2015-16 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence
Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 6
Caroline Shaw: Blueprint
Schumann: String Quartet, Op. 41, No. 3
April 26
Music Room, Rosen House
The Mind and Music of Scott Joplin with Richard Kogan, M.D.
Lecture/concert
April 30
Rosen House
Rosen Society Dinner
May 7
Music Room, Rosen House
Mothers and Others Tea Musicale
Kristin Gornstein, mezzo-soprano
May 11
Music Room, Rosen House
Wednesday Morning Concert
“Spring Renewal”
Kelly Smith Slawson, soprano; Derrick Goff, piano
May 12, 20, 26; June 3, 9, 16
Afternoon Tea
May 14
Music Room, Rosen House
Cabaret in the Music Room with Marin Mazzie & Jason Danieley
A Benefit Evening: “He Said/She Said”
May 18
Music Room, Rosen House
Wednesday Morning Concert
“From Broadway to Hollywood: Cherished Songs”
Kimberly Hawkey, vocals; Assaf Gleizner, piano
* Sold out
May 21
Music Room, Rosen House
An Evening of Wine: A Benefit for Caramoor’s Education Program
May 25
Music Room, Rosen House
Wednesday Morning Concert
“Mediterranean Celebration”
Judy Handler, guitar; Mark Levesque, mandolin
June 1
Spanish Courtyard
Wednesday Morning Concert
“Flamenco in the Courtyard”
Isabel del Día, dancer
| All concerts made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with funds from the Westchester County Government. | All concerts made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. |
© 21C Media Group, February 2016