From jazz to classical, opera, Americana, and global music, the Hudson Valley is home to an unmatched music scene with venues for every mood and genre. At Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, you can find them all—plus boundary-pushing contemporary sound art—in a sprawling, parklike historic location that you’ll want to explore for hours.
Originally designed in the 1930s, Caramoor was the enchanting Mediterranean-style country home of banker Walter T. Rosen and his wife Lucie Bigelow Rosen, an avant garde musical talent who toured the world playing the theremin.
After Lucie’s death, their daughter, Anne Stern, helped open her parents’ property to the public, finally offering visitors the chance to experience the home and the family’s extensive collection of Asian and Renaissance art, alongside musical performances that would seed the ground for Caramoor’s year-round programming.
Today, visitors of all stripes flock to Caramoor for world-class live music held in Caramoor’s five gorgeous venues, from the historic Spanish Courtyard to the more casual Friends Field; tours and formal tea services at the historic Rosen House itself; and to explore Sonic Innovations, an annual exhibition of sound art that criss-crosses 80 of the center’s acres and features large-scale, experiential work made from sonic materials outside the traditions of concert music.
With this summer’s jam-packed lineup of events, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. You’ll definitely want to catch performances from the boundary-pushing string ensemble Kronos Quartet (July 8); “A Night at the Opera” (July 22), an evening of operatic comedy and tragedy featuring international star Stephanie Blythe; Grammy award-winning global music star Angélique Kidjo (August 6); "The Chevalier: A Concert Theater Work About Joseph Bologne," written and directed by Bill Barclay (July 10); adventurous blues vocalist, Shemekia Copeland (July 29); and the acclaimed Silkroad Ensemble (July 16) with new director and co-founder of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rhiannon Giddens;
This season also marks the return of Caramoor’s beloved all-day festivals: the American Roots Music Festival (June 25) presented with City Winery and the Jazz Festival (July 30), presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. Caramoor is also offering free admission to the world premiere of Michael Gordon's "Field Of Vision." The event is presented in collaboration with Bang On A Can and features 40 percussionists in a large-scale site-specific work for Caramoor's Sunken Garden and the surrounding field (July 24).
Come two hours early for any performance to picnic on the grounds or explore Sonic Innovations, whose pieces include German artist Trimpin’s “in’C’”, an interactive kinetic sculpture in the shape of a 16-foot-high double letter C that welcomes guests as they arrive to Caramoor with melodious chimes, and Ranjit Bhatnagar’s “Stone Song,” a stone sound sculpture whose synthesizer-created tones shift daily based on humidity, temperature, and barometric pressure.
Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts
149 Girdle Ridge Road, Katonah
June 5–August 20 / Wed–Sun / 10am–4pm
Grounds are open free of charge two hours prior to concert start times.
A free shuttle runs from the Katonah Train Station to Caramoor and back for all summer concerts.
(914) 232-1252
