| This Saturday, June 18, Yo-Yo Ma & The Knights Kick Off Full Summer at Caramoor; Other Highlights Include Bill Barclay’s The Chevalier, J’Nai Bridges, Stephanie Blythe, Caroline Shaw, Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens, William Christie and Much More (June 18–Aug 19) |
 Clockwise from top left: J’Nai Bridges, Yo-Yo Ma, Matthew Whitaker, Kronos Quartet, Shemekia Copeland, Angelique Kidjo, Silkroad Ensemble, Dawn Upshaw (June 2022)— Caramoor’s 2022 summer season kicks off this Saturday, June 18 with an Opening Night Gala featuring incomparable cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his frequent collaborators The Knights, the trailblazing, Grammy-nominated orchestral collective conducted by Eric Jacobsen. Marking the cellist’s first return to Caramoor since 2016, the concert showcases Ma and violinist Colin Jacobsen in Brahms’s Concerto for Violin and Cello, alongside music by Bernstein, Kodály and Joplin, as well as an arrangement of the big band-era classic The Big Noise From Winnetka. This launches a full summer of world-class music that spans a broad spectrum of genres (June 18–Aug 19). With performers and composers representing a vast array of backgrounds and lived experiences, Caramoor’s summer spotlights many whom systemic forces have historically suppressed, and focuses on music as a collective cultural heritage for the entire world. Read Caramoor’s full season announcement here. All concerts are held safely outdoors on the cultural arts destination’s idyllic 80-acre Westchester campus in accordance with local and federal COVID-19 protocols.Opening Week: Juneteenth, Chamber Feast and moreAfter Ma and The Knights’s gala performance, Caramoor’s opening week celebrates Juneteenth – the commemoration of African American freedom and achievement that has become known as the country’s second Independence Day – this Sunday, June 19. Presented in collaboration with the Town of Bedford, this free performance by internationally recognized recording artist, vocal coach, and songwriter Jeremiah Abiah will be accompanied by family activities and will commemorate the emancipation of enslaved African Americans, honoring their families, heritage, and resilience. Next, fusing spoken word and folk music with traditional Afro-Mexican music and dance, the Chicano band Las Cafeteras from East L.A. performs in Caramoor’s “Concerts on the Lawn” series on Thursday, June 23. Closing out the week on Friday, June 24, Caramoor’s Chamber Feast presents alumni of the Evnin Rising Stars mentoring program – joined by New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinet Anthony McGill – performing works by Dvořák and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an English composer born in 1875 to an English mother and a Sierra Leonean father, who achieved international fame in his time but remains unfamiliar to today’s audiences. McGill, a champion of the clarinet quintet that Coleridge-Taylor composed in his early 20s, explains:“Not only is [Coleridge-Taylor’s music] luscious – it has that romantic feel – it has sounds I can relate to as well. It sounds like the experience of someone I can identify with, someone who’s a Black man. Those melodies are singing to you directly, whoever you are.”The abundance of world-class music filling the season includes pianist Lara Downes’s American Tapestry program; a recital by mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges; The Chevalier, a concert theater work by Bill Barclay about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges; the world premiere of Michael Gordon’s site-specific Field of Vision for 40 percussionists; the Silkroad Ensemble and its new Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens’s Phoenix Rising program, including four new commissions; Dawn Upshaw’s “Dido Reimagined” with the Brentano String Quartet; an evening with composer/performers Caroline Shaw, Angélica Negrón, and Raquel Acevedo Klein; A Night at the Opera with Stephanie Blythe and Laquita Mitchell; Handel’s Theodora featuring Marie-Eve Munger, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and The Trinity Baroque Orchestra; and a Beethoven season finale with Orchestra of St. Luke’s joined by soloist Marc-André Hamelin. The annual Jazz Festival is headlined by Camille Thurman and the Darrell Green Quartet; the American Roots Music Festival features headliner Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway; and the Sonic Innovations sound art installation features two new pieces by Mendi + Keith Obadike. Several concerts feature pre-concert conversations with the artists, and radio personality Helga Davis hosts a series of post-concert talkbacks on selected Thursdays. Getting to Caramoor Getting to Caramoor is simple by car or public transportation. All parking is free and close to the performance areas. Handicapped parking is also free and readily available. By car from New York City, take the Henry Hudson Parkway north to the Saw Mill River Parkway north to I-684 north to Exit 6. Go east on Route 35 to the traffic light (0.3 miles). Turn right onto Route 22 south, and travel 1.9 miles to the junction of Girdle Ridge Road where there is a green Caramoor sign. At the junction, veer left and make a quick right onto Girdle Ridge Road. Continue on Girdle Ridge Road 0.5 miles to the Caramoor gates on the right. Approximate drive time is one hour. By train from Grand Central Station, take the Harlem Division Line of the Metro-North Railroad heading to Southeast, and exit at Katonah. Caramoor is a 3.5-mile drive from the Katonah station. A FREE shuttle from Metro North’s Katonah station to and from Caramoor runs before and after every concert. About Caramoor Caramoor is a cultural arts destination located on a unique 80-plus-acre estate with Italianate architecture and gardens in Northern Westchester County, NY. Its beautiful grounds include the historic Rosen House, a stunning mansion listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Besides enriching the lives of its audiences through innovative and diverse musical performances of the highest quality, Caramoor mentors young professional musicians and provides music-centered educational programs for young children. |
This Sat at Caramoor: Yo-Yo Ma & The Knights kick off full summer.
