Katonah ~ 3/25/08
CARAMOOR FACT SHEET
What: Caramoor is home to metropolitan New York's largest annual outdoor music festival. It
is also known for its year-round concerts, lectures and educational programs. Caramoor
maintains a world-class collection of fine and decorative art in its House Museum.
Every summer, amid its 90 acres of fragrant gardens and towering trees, Caramoor's
two outdoor theatres - the Spanish Courtyard and the Venetian Theater - resonate with
the glorious sounds of orchestral music, bel canto opera, chamber music, jazz, Latin music,
and American music from bluegrass to cabaret, performed by the world's finest artists.
Who: Michael Barrett is Caramoor's Chief Executive and General Director. Will Crutchfield is
Caramoor's Director of Opera. Jim Luce is Producer of Caramoor's Jazz Festival. Edward
Arron is the Artistic Director of the Caramoor Virtuosi. The Orchestra of St. Luke's enjoys
an official residency at Caramoor. The 2007-2008 Caramoor Composer-in-Residence is
Paquito D'Rivera. Marco Granados is the Music Advisor for Sonidos Latinos,
Caramoor's Latin American Music Initiative. The 2007-2008 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-
Residence is the Escher String Quartet.
Directions: Caramoor is located in Katonah, New York (45 miles from midtown Manhattan), and is
easily accessible by car and by the Harlem Division of the Metro-North Railroad
operating out of Grand Central Terminal. For more detailed directions call the Box Office
at 914.232.1252 or visit www.caramoor.org.
Caramoor Caravan bus from Manhattan: Ride comfortably in a luxurious, air-conditioned
coach to Bel Canto at Caramoor opera performances on July 12, 18, and 26. Round trip
service is $25. Call the Caramoor Box Office at 914.232.1252 or www.caramoor.org
for schedule details or to order tickets.
Important Box Office: 914.232.1252 or boxoffice@caramoor.org.
Telephone House Museum tours, Performer's Showcases (Wednesday mid-morning recitals),
Numbers Afternoon Tea (Thursday and Fridays) and Garden Tours: 914.232.5035 ext. 221 or
and museum@caramoor.org.
E-mail: General Information: 914.232.5035 or info@caramoor.org.
Caramoor's Website: www.caramoor.org
Venetian On the evening of June 21, 1958, thunder rumbled overhead and rain poured down.
Theater: The audience at the inaugural concert of the newly completed Venetian Theater remained
in their seats, huddled beneath umbrellas. Soprano Marian Anderson sang the role of Orfeo,
for the first and only time, in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice. The show went on despite the rain,
and the Venetian Theater was launched.
The 1700 seat outdoor theater was designed by Frederick Kiesler around a set of Greek
and Roman pink marble columns purchased and imported by Caramoor founder Walter
Rosen. The Venetian Theater was built to accommodate the increasing audiences at the
fledgling Music Festival and became the third and largest performing space, along with
the Spanish Courtyard and the Music Room.
In 1986, a new tent was erected in the Venetian Theater which, for the first time,
protected all seats from inclement weather. An improved tent and the installation of a
wooden floor in 1989 brought noticeably improved acoustics to the already resonant
Theater.
Today, Caramoor is one of the foremost venues on the international concert music scene
and metropolitan New York's largest annual outdoor summer music festival. On summer
evenings, the white tent flutters in the breeze. The stage lights illuminate the Venetian
arches and marble columns, and the audience enjoys another concert of spectacular
music.
Spanish For over sixty years, the colonnaded Spanish Courtyard has resounded with the voices
Courtyard: and music of such artists as Alicia de Larrocha, Frederica von Stade, Beverly Sills, Andrea
Marcovicci, Christopher Taylor, Paquito D'Rivera, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and many more.
With a capacity of 560, the Spanish Courtyard provides an intimate concert experience in
which every strand of music can be clearly discerned. It is the perfect venue for chamber
music, early music ensembles, vocal recitals, pre-concert lectures, and candle-lit post-concert
parties.
The Spanish Courtyard is at the core of Lucie and Walter Rosen's home, a stucco villa with
red-tiled roof and complicated angles.
Diane Moss On November 4, 2001, the new Diane Moss Education Center at Caramoor was officially
Education opened. This colorful, lively, informal space in one of the estate's original
Center: Mediterranean-style buildings has enabled Caramoor to double the number of education
program-days scheduled each year. The building has two floors: the downstairs consists
of a workshop area, performance space, an art space, and restrooms; upstairs there is an
additional 1200 square feet that are used as smaller classroom spaces, rehearsal rooms,
and office space. The facility complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
House The large, rambling Mediterranean-style villa contains a priceless collection of Eastern and
Museum: Western art and furnishings spanning from B.C.E. to the 20th-century. Caramoor's House
Museum is one of five mansions in the U.S. that incorporate entire rooms imported from
European palaces and villas. Twenty rooms are open to the public. The Museum is the former
summer home of financier Walter and his wife Lucie Bigelow Dodge Rosen, Caramoor's
founders. The house was built around the Spanish Courtyard, where concerts are held
outdoors during the summer.
Tours of the Museum are offered Wednesday through Sunday, May through October (and
by appointment at other times). Group tours can be arranged. Afternoon Tea is served in
the Summer Dining Room overlooking the Spanish Courtyard on Thursday and Fridays
at 3:00 pm, May through October and in December Caramoor offers the popular Holiday
Tea Musicales. The teas are preceded by a tour of the House Museum at 1:45 pm, and
reservations are required.
Gardens: The Caramoor estate sprawls over 90 acres and contains several major garden areas. Unlike
other gardens in the area, Caramoor's were planned to enhance the site's Renaissance
sensibility. When the Rosens purchased Caramoor in 1928, they were impressed by its
Italianate Gardens, two of which remain today.
Sunken Garden: Located near the eastern entrance of the Venetian Theater, this unique
display pre-dates the Rosen's purchase of the estate.
Woodland and Theater Gardens and Cedar Walk: Located on the south and north
sides of the Venetian Theater, these strikingly different gardens, one natural and the other
formal, add to the concert experience of everyone who enters the Venetian Theater. The
tall trees of the Cedar Walk, the southern border of the Woodland Garden, create a wonderful
deep forest atmosphere.
Tapestry Hedge: Framing the Picnic Grounds and adjacent to the Sense Circle, the Tapestry
Hedge features an immense collection of evergreens of different hues and textures.
Sense Circle: Located opposite the House Museum, this garden was designed around a
dovecote (now a fountain) that had been on the property for years. All the plants may be
touched and the fountain may be used as a wishing well, making this a favorite stop for
visitors of all ages. The plan of the garden allows easy access for those in wheelchairs, on
crutches, and for the visually impaired.
Iris and Peony Garden: Part of the Tapestry Hedge/Picnic Grounds display, this garden is a
brilliant assemblage of color in mid- to late-June.
Butterfly Garden: Extending out from the Italian Pavilion is the Butterfly Garden, consisting
of the Lion's Head Fountain surrounded by plants chosen to encourage all stages of butterfly
development. The flower colors of pale orange, yellow, and blue match the hues of the antique
floor tile of the Pavilion.
Spanish Courtyard: Cloistered by 12th-century Byzantine columns, and surrounded by
Caramoor's extraordinary House Museum, in the center of the Spanish Courtyard is the base of
an old wellhead fountain surrounded by a small, colorful garden.
Renaissance Gardens: The Renaissance Gardens transform the entrances to the Diane Moss
Education Center, making them even more warm and welcoming.
To arrange a garden tour call 914-232-5035 ext. 221
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