Caramoor

Caramoor is a large estate in Katonah (in Westchester County, less than two hours’ drivingtime from New York City) where every summer there is a splendid Festival for Music and Art. But the surroundings are as splendid as the Festival itself: a Spanish courtyard for operas and smaller concerts, and an open-air Venetian theater built around antique marble columns. Sitting (on chairs) on a grassy parterre, surrounded by majestic old trees of the kind the Druids would worship, we heard Mozart here a few weeks ago. Under the moon, we walked in romantic groves and gardens; oh to be 18 and in love!

The Caramoor Festival is widely known for producing unusual music in a very professional way. This year, there was a Benjamin Britten minifestival including The Rape of Lucretia. Among the performers this season have been pianists Philippe Entremont and Mark Westcott, harpsichordist Igor Kipnis, the Waverly Consort playing Italian Renaissance music, and the Caramoor Festival Orchestra playing Viennese waltzes. Past seasons have featured Mozart’s Idomeneo, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Handel’s Acis and Galatea— you get the idea. But there are modern works as well (for instance, Beverly Sills has sung here in Poulenc’s Gloria), and there have been memorable performances of nineteenth century standbys like The Gypsy Baron and The Merry Widow. And they are all first class.

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Nika Hazelton

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Caramoor is a large estate in Katonah (in Westchester County, less than two hours’ drivingtime from New York City) where every summer there is a splendid Festival for Music and Art. But the surroundings are as splendid as the Festival itself: a Spanish courtyard for operas and smaller concerts, and an open-air Venetian theater built around antique marble columns. Sitting (on chairs) on a grassy parterre, surrounded by majestic old trees of the kind the Druids would worship, we heard Mozart here a few weeks ago. Under the moon, we walked in romantic groves and gardens; oh to be 18 and in love!

The Caramoor Festival is widely known for producing unusual music in a very professional way. This year, there was a Benjamin Britten minifestival including The Rape of Lucretia. Among the performers this season have been pianists Philippe Entremont and Mark Westcott, harpsichordist Igor Kipnis, the Waverly Consort playing Italian Renaissance music, and the Caramoor Festival Orchestra playing Viennese waltzes. Past seasons have featured Mozart’s Idomeneo, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Handel’s Acis and Galatea— you get the idea. But there are modern works as well (for instance, Beverly Sills has sung here in Poulenc’s Gloria), and there have been memorable performances of nineteenth century standbys like The Gypsy Baron and The Merry Widow. And they are all first class.