Caramoor keeps the music playing this fall and next spring with a lineup of outstanding artists.
The season kicks off outdoors Sunday, Sept. 29, with a free community event celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month. The program at Caramoor’s Friends Field features People of Earth, an ensemble of musicians that performs music spanning the globe from the rhythms of Cuba to the soulful melodies of Brazil. Family-friendly activities will be held throughout the afternoon.
Beginning in October, performances move indoors to the intimate setting of the Rosen House Music Room, an art-filled space built by the Rosen family over 80 years ago to host friends and family for musical performances.
On Sunday, Oct. 6, renowned pianist Marc-André Hamelin will perform a program including Haydn and Beethoven sonatas, Rachmaninoff and the Russian composer’s younger contemporary, Nikolai Medtner.
Singer, instrumentalist and storyteller Amythyst Kiah returns to Caramoor Friday, Oct. 18, with her full band performing contemporary roots music.
Caramoor continues to offer period music with a program Sunday, Oct. 20, featuring the ensemble Le Consort, which will explore English Baroque as influenced by Italian masterworks in the program titled “From Naples to London.” Also in this genre, looking ahead to spring, Twelfth Night, an ensemble of historical performance specialists inspired by Shakespeare’s play of the same name, will perform a Baroque program featuring Handel’s early pastoral cantata, “Aminta e Fillide,” April 6.
Caramoor’s annual cabaret event features Broadway singer Julie Benko on Friday, Oct. 25, accompanied by her husband, jazz pianist Jason Yeager. The duo will perform arrangements of songs from musicals, the “Great American Songbook” and original compositions.
The young artists in Caramoor’s mentoring program, the Evnin Rising Stars, will perform a pair of afternoon concerts Nov. 2 and 3. The concerts are the capstone of a week-long residency at Caramoor, which nurtures participating musicians on the threshold of their professional careers. Both programs feature compositions by Brahms alongside chamber works by Beethoven and Bartók on Nov. 2, and Mozart and Penderecki on Nov. 3.
This year’s Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence is the Terra String Quartet. During its year-long residency, the group will spotlight Benjamin Britten’s string quartets as well as works by Mozart and Mendelssohn. On May 4, the ensemble will perform Britten’s Third Quartet, Beethoven’s Quartet No. 15 in A Minor and madrigals by Maddalena Casulana, the first female composer to have her music published.
Jazz fans also will find notable performers in Caramoor’s fall and spring lineup. On Nov. 8, South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, a global jazz icon, will take to the stage with his trio. Grammy-winning pianist and vocalist Nicole Zuraitis, the premier vocalist for the Birdland Big Band, will be at Caramoor with her quartet May 9.
During the holiday season, Trio Mediæval will bring its “Yule” program to the Rosen House Music Room on Dec. 8, comprising traditional Scandinavian folk songs and hymns, with English medieval carols. Nefesh Mountain, whose fusion of Jewish music, bluegrass and Americana was featured at Caramoor’s 2023 American Roots Music Festival, returns Dec.12 with a Hanukkah Celebration. In addition, tours of the Rosen House are available. Caramoor officials also encourage early bookings of the popular Afternoon Teas and Holiday Tea Musicales.
Two fall benefits are also planned. On Saturday, Oct. 19, Caramoor will host a special evening with Rolling Stones keyboard player, Chuck Leavell, to benefit both the Mianus River Gorge and Caramoor. There will be a pre-show dinner followed by a concert. On Dec. 7, Caramoor will present Bonny Light Horseman in a special benefit concert to support Caramoor’s programming. Performers in this folk supergroup include Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman, who weave together elements of Americana, indie rock and Celtic influences.
For tickets and more information, visit caramoor.org.
Caramoor is at 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah.