Caramoor’s Rosen House concert series launches Oct. 5

Above, singer/songwritter Roseanne Cash, and below, cellist Steven Isserlis.

By LAURA JOSEPH MOGIL 

Just because it’s fall doesn’t mean the concerts have stopped at Caramoor. They’ve just moved indoors to the intimate Music Room of the historic Rosen House. The 2025-26 season begins Oct. 5 and runs through May 8.

Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series highlights the organization’s longstanding commitment to presenting a variety of programming that encompasses an expansive range of genres and outstanding artists.

“Performances include classical, jazz, global, and roots, as well as cabaret [in this case, the “Great American Songbook”],” said Gillian Fox, the organization’s president and chief executive officer.

The historic ambiance of the Rosen House provides a unique venue for Caramoor’s word-class performers — many of whom are unlikely to be heard this season elsewhere in the Westchester County area. 

“It’s an incredible array of music that showcases the intimacy of the room’s warm, intimate and acoustically excellent space,” Fox said. “Plus, the 192 plush red velvet chairs are incredibly comfortable. It’s a beautiful way to hear exceptional music with a small group of people without having to go to New York City.”

People listening to the music can also soak in the room’s ornate and eclectic Renaissance and 18th century artwork and furnishings from Europe. These include stained glass windows with Renaissance elements, an intricately carved coffered walnut ceiling from a house in Lecce, Italy, a pair of pink marble twisted columns from Verona (once in the collection of William Randolph Hearst), and Gothic Franco-Flemish tapestries. 

“This season’s Rosen House Concert Series includes some extremely high-profile names as well as up-and-coming young performers that we have flagged as very special,” said Kathy Schuman, Caramoor’s vice president and artistic director (before joining Caramoor in 2016, Schuman served as the artistic administrator of Carnegie Hall for 15 years).

Some highlights include the Baroque performance standard-bearers The English Concert led by Harry Bicket (Nov. 9), the 2025 Grammy-winning Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (March 22), and multifaceted British cellist Steven Isserlis (April 19). In addition, tickets are selling quickly for the benefit concert with famed singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash on Dec. 6.

Schuman said the concert series will also feature a number of “rising stars in the music world.” These include a return performance by boundary-breaking South African cellist Abel Selaocoe (Oct. 5), TikTok singing sensation Stella Cole (Oct 17), Djibouti-born French guitar virtuoso Raphaël Feuillâtre (Oct. 26), Grammy-nominated jazz singer Christie Dashiell (Nov. 7), and New York City blues guitarist, vocalist and composer Solomon Hicks (May 8).

“The season will also feature performances by talented young artists in Caramoor’s mentorship program, which invests in that next generation of world-class musicians,” Schuman said. These include the Evnin Rising Stars (Nov. 1 and 2); Poiesis Quartet, Caramoor’s 2025-26 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence (Nov. 16 and May 3); and Schwab Vocal Rising Stars (March 8) programs.

The roots of presenting live music at Caramoor date back to 1939, when Caramoor’s original owners, Walter and Lucie Rosen, completed their Katonah home and began hosting family and friends for musical and vocal performances in their purpose-built music room. 

In 1946, following the Rosens’ bequest of the Caramoor estate to the public, the Rosen House Music Room opened for three public concerts, which seeded the annual summer music festival.

“The real year-round use of the Music Room, in the way that we think about it today, started in the fall of 1993 with a robust indoor music series from the fall to the spring. Prior to that, the majority of the concerts held at Caramoor were held outdoors and during the summer,” Fox said. She notes it’s a real privilege to be able to continue to bring life to the space in the way that the Rosen’s originally intended.

“Caramoor is such an intimate and comfortable setting in a way that makes it one of a kind. I think a concert at Caramoor — whether it’s in the Music Room or anywhere here — is incomparable, and that’s something we’re really proud of,” says Fox. “There’s something very special about sitting in that room and hearing a concert. You could hear the same concert in another venue, but there’s something about the combination of that very special room and the music that just brings one-plus-one to equal 10.”

On a last note, Fox says, “We want people to know that Caramoor is not just a summer venue, but a cultural community center here to present world-class music for the Westchester community all year long.”

Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah. For tickets and more information visit caramoor.org.