Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts

Mentoring and Arts-In-Education - See Schedule OThe development of emerging artists is central to Caramoor's mission and woven into much of our programming. Through our mentoring programs, we identify, train, and promote the next generation of vocal and instrumental artists.Young artists from Caramoor's chamber mentorship program, Evnin Rising Stars, led by Guest Artistic Director Marcy Rosen, performed a pair of concerts in the fall following a week of workshops, reading sessions, and ensemble rehearsals alongside distinguished artist mentors violist Shmuel Ashkenasi and double bassist Edgar Meyer. The 2023 Rising Stars were violinists Maria Ioudenitch, Lun Li, and Amarins Wierdsma; violists Njord Fossnes and Cara Pogossian; cellists Gabriel Martins and Chase Park; and pianist Janice Carissa. Over the course of two programs, they performed works by Boccherini, Mozart, Schubert, and Dohnanyi, as well as Meyer's Quintet for String Quartet and Double Bass. During Spring 2023, Caramoor's 2022-23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, the Ivalas Quartet, performed works by Eleanor Alberga, Osvaldo Golijov, and Beethoven. The Abeo Quartet, Caramoor's 2023-24 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, launched their residency in Fall 2023 with a program that included music of Mendelssohn, Kian Ravaei, and Beethoven. Caramoor's Schwab Vocal Rising Stars - led by Artistic Director Steven Blier, assisted by Benedicte Jourdois and developed in conjunction with the New York Festival of Song - presented "EROS AND CO.": the chaos and the delight of Cupid's arrow, refracted through songs by Saint-Saens, Granados, Sondheim, Serge Gainsbourg, and others. This followed a week-long residency that included daily coaching, rehearsals, and workshops. The 2023 Schwab Vocal Rising stars were Shelen Hughes, soprano; Maggie Renee, mezzo-soprano; Colin Aikins, tenor; Joseph Parrish, baritone; and Yihao Zhou, piano.Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-ResidenceIn 1999, with the support of The Ernst C. Stiefel Foundation, Caramoor established a residency program for young string ensembles. Each year a quartet is selected and given opportunities throughout the year to develop as an ensemble, to work with a young composer, to perform for Caramoor's audiences, and to engage local schoolchildren in arts outreach. Our Student Strings program connects Caramoor's Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence with middle and high school students. This year the Ivalas Quartet (Spring 2023) and the Abeo Quartet (Fall 2023) visited 10 schools to teach a hands-on, clinic-style master class for string students and perform an assembly-style program for the general student population. Other community engagement efforts included quartet visits to an over-55 condominium community and performances at the Bedford Hills and Taconic correctional facilities.Arts-in-EducationSince 1974, Caramoor has provided students with arts enrichment opportunities that use our exceptional facilities, visiting artists, and dedicated staff while meeting New York State education standards. Caramoor's arts-in-education program features on-campus workshops that bring students to Caramoor and a music literacy unit that sends our musicians to local schools. This year marked the full launch of our new research-based curriculum, Caramoor Kids, which was introduced as a pilot program with select groups in 2021. Of the approximately 582 children who participated in our on-campus field trips during the 2022-23 academic year, roughly half were from Title 1 schools that serve children from low-income households. Caramoor offers its arts-in-education programs free of charge.

Rosen House, Gardens and Estate - See Schedule OThe Rosen House is a Mediterranean revival villa at the center of the Caramoor campus. In recognition of the unsurpassed quality and great quantity of European period rooms incorporated in the house, Caramoor was recognized as nationally significant on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011. Built in the 1930s, the Rosen House now serves as a concert venue, museum, and archive. Gardens and EstateThe 81-acre Caramoor campus is comprised of four primary buildings - today known as the Rosen House, the Administration Building, the Gifford Residence, and the Diane Moss Education Center - as well as ancillary buildings and landscape features, gardens, lawns, and woodland areas. A central focus of the campus is the Venetian Theater, a tented, 1,800-seat venue.Forty-five acres of the campus is deer-fenced and open to the visiting public, including the Sunken Garden, established in 1912; a Mediterranean Revival pavilion; an alley of cedar trees; and a number of gardens designed in the 1930s by landscape architect and Katonah resident Robert Ludlow Fowler, Jr.