Caramoor’s Lively 2024 Summer Season Adds the New and the Familiar

More than 40 events are taking place this summer at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, both outdoors in the beautifully verdant gardens and the expansive Friends Field as well as inside the charming indoor spaces.

The season, which starts Sunday, June 9 and runs through Aug. 16, boasts a diverse music program ranging from classical to jazz, Black and Latinx music, American Roots to uptown-swing.

And for the first time in at least 20 years, Caramoor will feature two dance performances: the celebrated Mark Morris Dance Group on Aug. 1 and the Les Arts Florissants’ performing with dancers, singers and musicians on stage in Purcell’s “The Fairy Queen” on July 20.

For the first time since the pandemic, Caramoor’s Independence Day fireworks will be displayed along with rousing renditions of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” and Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

“We’ve had a record demand for tickets to some of our performances,” said Edward J. Lewis III, Caramoor’s president and CEO. “This season’s programing is Caramoor’s road map to sustainability and includes a mix of genres that reflect DEI practices for our future.”

Headliners include a gala performance with Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on June 22, and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham, known for her West Coast folk-rock style, who will perform as part of the American Roots Music Festival on June 29.

Highlighting cabaret and pops music is two-time Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster on July 13. Another big-name performer this season is Rhiannon Giddens, a Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur “Genius” Grant recipient, who will present songs from her newest album, “You’re the One,” on Aug. 3.

The pulsating rhythms of Kiki Valera y su Son Cubano will perform the mambo, salsa, jazz and cha-cha on July 6. Valera is known as one of the world’s greatest Cuban cuatro players.

Caramoor has collaborated with The LOFT LGBTQ+ Community Center for its Pride celebration to present Jasmine Rice LaBeija, a Juilliard-trained tenor and renowned drag artist on June 13. LaBeija has sold out the Guggenheim Museum, Lincoln Center and countless queer clubs around the world.

On June 16 Caramoor celebrates Juneteenth with a free event on Friends Field featuring Charles Turner & Uptown Swing playing music from the 1920s to the present. Other Juneteenth celebrations include a free event on Sunday, June 16 at 4 p.m.

The program commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans with jump-step star Nethmi De Silva and fellow Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester educators who will demonstrate Double Dutch rope jump and the art of stepping.

Concerts on the expansive Friends Field is where you can bring your own seats, blankets and picnics baskets and hear the Grammy-winning trendy vocal octet Roomful of Teeth (June 28), the Cajun band Lost Bayou Ramblers (July 12) and Time for Three (July 26).

Caramoor’s annual jazz festival starts on Saturday, July 27 and features pianist and band leader Matthew Whitaker in the evening. Daytime artists include Julius Rodriguez, Charles Overton, Francesca Tandoi, Ekep Nkwelle and Bruce Harris Pretty for the People.

Sound art, some of which is site specific, and sound installations can be found throughout the grounds. On June 9, there is the official opening of Sonic Innovations, an annual free event to hear new music and experience sound art. The day includes a performance by composer Majel Connery and cellist Felix Fan in an electronic song cycle on ecological responsibility told from the point of view of the land.

That same afternoon the New York Theremin Society will visit Caramoor, bringing the instrument for people to try. The theremin was a favorite of Lucie Rosen who, with her husband Walter Rosen, built Caramoor as their country estate in the 1920s. Lucie Rosen was known as a theremin soloist who popularized the use of the instrument in the 1930s and 1940s.

Brand new this year are docent-led tours called Women Artists in the Rosen House that will run from May 23 through Aug. 18. Lucie Rosen had interests in fashion, dance, visual arts and music. She also knew many painters, sculptors and musicians.

Jessa Krick, Caramoor’s director of interpretation, collection and archives, curated the new art tour. The tour will be in the Rosen House and will include works of art by women painters, sculptors and past performers along with intriguing stories that have recently come to light about the artists. The tour will include a general history of Caramoor and its founders.

Promoting mindful listening, the Music & Meditation in the Garden series is scheduled for three Saturday mornings in July and August in the Sunken Garden.

For children ages 2 to 6 and their caregivers, there will be special participatory concerts with world-class artists who will invite children to sing, wiggle and dance a wide range of different music. The Concerts for Little Ones are set for Fridays July 5 and 12 and Aug. 2 at 11 a.m.

Caramoor is part of the Hudson Valley Summer Arts Pass, a discounted bundle of tickets to the season’s top events at the Jacob Burns Film Center, Storm King Art Center, Historic Hudson Valley and the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. The pass for two tickets costs $195, a value of more than $400. A pass for four tickets is $375, and is valued at over $800.

Caramoor’s 80-plus-acre grounds are open to explore Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is located at 149 Girdle Ridge Rd. in Katonah. For more information about the summer’s season, call 914-232-1252 or visit www.caramoor.org.