Life’s a pitch: Stars align for Caramoor vocal group

Schwab Vocal Rising Stars members Jamal Al Titi, Steven Blier, Chea Kang, Reed Gnepper, Kate Morton, Bénédicte Jourdois and Zoey Zhou. CARAMOOR PHOTO

By JOYCE CORRIGAN

Albert Einstein was able to explain the unexplainable about space, time and gravity with his theory of relativity, but the most astute music critics could only ever explain Luciano Pavarotti with “His voice is from God.” Maria Callas, meanwhile, was dubbed “La Divina.”

The beauty of Caramoor’s beloved Schwab Vocal Rising Stars program, taking place Sunday, March 16, at 3 p.m., is that we get to see and hear a handful of young and exceptional classical vocalists while they’re still relatively mortal. Ordinary people, just like us — that is, until they begin to sing.

Schwab Vocal Rising Stars is celebrating its sweet 16 this year with the theme “Beginner’s Luck: The Artist’s Journey.” An exploration of the thrills and fears of youthful artistry, its vehicle is an exciting and challenging variety of musical song styles from Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann to Stephen Sondheim, and from Charles Ives and George Gershwin to Bob Dylan. The song selections give voice to the chaotic decade between adolescence and adulthood, filled with seemingly endless possibility and endless peril. 

Consider the Rising Stars like spring training camp for divas (and divos). The program offers advanced student and beginner professional singers, all in their 20s, an intensive week-long residency that includes daily coaching, rehearsals and workshops. They reside in housing on the grounds of Caramoor, originally the country estate of Walter and Lucie Bigelow Rosen. For seven days, the singers eat, rehearse, listen and learn from each other. The program is also a game changer for one young pianist who is the group’s accompanist.

The intimacy of the venue, Caramoor’s exquisite Music Room, mirrors the up close and personal approach to the performers. Caramoor’s blog posts reveal some endearing details that almost belie their magnificent gifts. Belarusian-Canadian baritone, Jamal Al Titi, who has played the title role of“Don Giovanni” at the Banff Centre, shares that his earliest musical inspiration was the Looney Tunes cartoon “The Conductor and the Fan Rabbit,” where mischievous “conductor” Bugs Bunny hilariously coerces a baritone to hold a high G for what feels like forever.

Mezzo-soprano Kate Morton, a Cherokee Nation citizen who performs with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, seeks every opportunity to perform in Cherokee. And when not performing in concertos and chamber music at the likes of Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, pianist Zoey Xinyue Zhou, a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, is partial to playing Mandarin pop.

Invaluable for each of the artists is the week of mentoring by Rising Stars founding artistic director, Steven Blier, and associate director Bénédicte Jourdois.

“Make no mistake, the exceptional voices are already there,” Blier said of his hand-selected band of 20-somethings. “I’ve worked with young artists at Juilliard, Wolf Trap and Glimmerglass and the spark, the creativity and color are on full display; what’s still to come for each of them, of course, is experience.” (Incidentally, Pavarotti debuted at 19, singing Rodolpho in Puccini’s “La Boheme;” Jessye Norman premiered at 23; Callas at 17.)

Blier is also founder and artistic director of the New York Festival of Song and a longtime vocal arts professor at Juilliard.

The Opera News proclaiming Blier “the coolest dude in town” doesn’t surprise Caramoor’s Artistic Director Kathy Schuman in the least.

“Steven is so creative and comfortable working with young talent,” she said. “He knows exactly how to communicate with them. We couldn’t be more excited each year when Steven and Bénédicte return. Like our Evnin Rising Stars for musicians, VRS is part of our mission to be an incubator for young talent, where they spend an immersive week with peers, performing at the highest level.”

Before coming to Caramoor in 2016, Schuman was artistic administrator at Carnegie Hall.

“The most exciting part of RSV,” she said, “is tracking a young vocalist’s career after Caramoor, and, even more thrilling, is one day welcoming them back to perform.”

Blier has a particular genius for mixing up genres, languages and personalities and producing a cohesive, stimulating program. Songs may be sung in Italian, German, Russian, French, Hebrew and Arabic — with Blier bringing in the relevant coaches fluent in each.

“But I’m never focused exclusively on technique,” he clarified. “It’s always about communicating what the song is about. I look for an individual who can take the audience on a song journey. If our theme includes a Greek song, we think, which one of our vocalists can really bring this to life?”

Everything at VRS starts with the song and this year’s program, songs written by some of the greatest composers of this century and last.

“Each song is like a Russian doll with more and more layers to be discovered,” Blier said. “It takes a lot of hard work and collaboration to get there.”

Blier’s partner, Jourdois, is a Julliard pianist and vocal coach and member of the Metropolitan Opera House music staff. “Bénédicte is the doctor and I’m the acupuncturist,” Blier laughed. “My approach is more indirect, while she’s more exacting, but we’re always after the same thing: the best outcome for the song and singer.”

And whether the songwriter is Dylan, a Broadway icon like Sondheim or 19th century German lieder legend Schumann, it should feel “very today.”

“With the right voice, the song will have a freshness, urgency and relevance,” Blier said. “We want the vocalists to take possession of the song as if they wrote it. That’s what’s exciting.”

And don’t be misled by the title “Beginner’s Luck.” While there’s often a little bit of fortune involved, if Schwab Vocal Rising Stars proves anything, singers who go on to glorious careers always credit the blood, sweat and tears they invested in their precious instrument.

Tickets for Caramoor’s 2025 summer concert performances go on sale to the general public Tuesday, March 18. For the full schedule and ticket information, visit caramoor.org.

Caramoor is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah.

Schwab Vocal Rising Stars 

When: 3 p.m. Sunday, March 16.

Where: The Music Room, Caramoor Center for Music & Arts

149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah

Tickets & Info: boxoffice@caramoor.org