Summer Festival Preview: Caramoor

The stately festival in Katonah prepares for changes.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The big tent at Caramoor and at one end, the Venetian Theater.

Doings are a-transpiring at the Rosen Estate, the stately faux-Italian Renaissance manor house in Katonah, NY that is the home of the Caramoor Festival. Caramoor is the summer home of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, and is reknowned for its series of chamber music, orchestral concerts and opera performances.

Opera Review: Get Out of Jail Free

Bel Canto at Caramoor mounts Beethoven's Fidelio.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pablo Heras-Casado conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke's
in Fidelio at Caramoor with Paul Groves (center) as Florestan and Elsa van den Heever as Leonore.
Photo by Gabe Palacio © 2016 Caramoor Festival of the Arts.

Since its inception, the Bel Canto at Caramoor program has focused on providing opportunities for young singers and reviving rare operas, usually in Italian but occasionally in French. On Sunday afternoon, with Orchestra of St. Luke's music director Pablo Heras-Casado on the podium in the Venetian Theater, the summer festival offered Fidelio, the only completed opera by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Superconductor 2016 Summer Festival Preview II: Caramoor

The elegant estate in Katonah, NY has a full slate planned.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Baton out of nowhere: Gil Shaham in concert at Caramoor. The violinist will
close out the 2016 festival season Aug. 7. Photo © Caramoor Music Festival.

The Superconductor survey of the upcoming summer festival schedule moves just north of the city to Caramoor, an elegant, sprawling estate with shady, graveled walks, rolling grassy lawns and its own hedge maze. Caramoor also boasts a strong schedule of classical concerts, and the annual Bel Canto at Caramoor concert performances in the Venetian Theater are a magnet for Gotham opera-goers.

Opera Review: The Bride Wore Yellow

Bel Canto at Caramoor mounts La Favorite.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
(This review is presented in collaboration with our friends at OperaPulse.)

Clémentine Margaine (center) and Santiago Ballerini in La Favorite.
Photo by Gabe Palacio for the Caramoor Festival.

Sometimes it takes an exceptional revival to bring an opera back from the grave. That's what happened Saturday night when the annual Bel Canto at Caramoor series turned its attention to Donizetti's La Favorite, a show that held the stage in Paris from its premiere in 1840 until 1894. This performance, held on July 11 featured the Orchestra of St. Luke's under the baton of Will Crutchfield. For the performance of this difficult work, Mr. Crutchfield assembled  a slew of strong young singers execute the original French version of this opera with style and flair.

Festival Preview: Get Thee to a Nunnery (or Monastery)

Caramoor unveils its summer opera lineup. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Opera in concert at Caramoor's Venetian Theater.
Image © 2015 Caramoor Performing Arts Festival.

Located off a quiet suburban lane in Katonah, NY, the Rosen Estate is a gorgeous folly, an exercise in Renaissance Italian architecture slapped square in a corner of Westchester, NY. Happily, it is also home to Caramoor, a performing arts center whose annual festival features the best of opera, orchestral and chamber music.

Opera Review: The Young Poisoner's Handbook

Angela Meade's Lucrezia Borgia bows at Caramoor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pretty poison: Angela Meade is a deadly Lucrezia Borgia at Caramoor.
Photo by Dario Acosta © 2012 AngelaMeade.com

Although Gaetano Donizetti was one of the most prolific and popular composers of the 19th century, only a handful of his 71 operas have survived into the regular repertory of the world's opera houses. A recent revival of interest in bel canto repertory has led to a Donizetti revival, with operas like Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda emerging from the fog of history.

Summer Marches In: The 2014 Superconductor Festival Guide Part I

Your guide to getting out of New York and hearing great music.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Soprano Ellie Dehn is Euryanthe at Bard SummerScape.
Photo by Todd Norwood © 2014 Bard Festival.

As summer marches in, the festival season is upon us. Here's the Superconductor guide to getting out of New York for spectacular scenery, gorgeous music, and opera performances that you'll read about here in the next two months.

Opera-pocalypse! The Best of 2012

The Twelve Best Operas Performances of 2012.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

No this didn't actually happen this year. (The Mayans were wrong!)
 Framegrab from Armageddon © 1998 The Walt Disney Company/Touchstone Entertainment.

I saw a total of sixty-five operas in 2012 (sixty-six if I snag a ticket for Maria Stuarda on Monday night.) Here's the twelve best opera performances (overall) for the year that was supposed to end with us being hit by a flaming pyramid two weeks ago.

Anyway here's the best operas I saw this year. Rough chronological order.

Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera.
"Angela Meade brought her admirable instrument to the part, meeting the challenging high-and-low notes of the opening "Ernani, inviolame" and  the fiery duets and trios that form the backbone of this score."

The Ghosts of Versailles at Manhattan School of Music
"One of the joys of Mr. Corigliano's opera is seeing Beaumarchais bring his beloved characters back to life for one more romp. Figaro is older in this opera-within-an-opera, played here with energy and a rich low end by American baritone Nickoli Strommer. "

Notre Dame with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
"Stephen Powell walked a fine line between piety and desparation, using his potent baritone in the prison scene to convincingly portray the deacon's capricious, ambivalent attitude toward Esmerelda."

Salome with the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
"Nina Stemme didn't just sing--she embodied the title role, meeting the opera's exacting requirements with a huge instrument that proved capable of soaring heights and spine-tingling lows. This was the heroic soprano voice that New Yorkers have been starving for: real singing, thrillingly delivered with no compression or spreading above or below the stave."

The Superconductor Interview: Angela Meade

A conversation with the next queen of bel canto.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

"I don't read blogs." Soprano Angela Meade in Ernani.
Photo by Marty Sohl, © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

"The essence of a great bel canto opera is beautifully written melodies that seem extremely organic." Soprano Angela Meade should know. In the last five years, Ms. Meade has taken the spotlight as a bel canto specialist, reviving this lost operatic form (the phrase is Italian for "beautiful song") for a new generation of opera lovers.

Concert Review: Wind, Weather and Beethoven

Pablo Heras-Casado's stormy debut Caramoor debut.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Stormy skies: conductor Pablo Heras-Casado faced the elements at Caramoor on Sunday.
 Photoshop by the author. 

Sunday afternoon's concert at Caramoor featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke's with pianist Emanuel Ax was supposed to be a coming-out party for  Pablo Heras-Casado: his first concert as the orchestra's new Principal Conductor since taking over the post in December of 2011.

However, the weather had other ideas.

We arried at Caramoor about 3:30pm, driving up from Brooklyn, through muggy heat under overcast skies. Sitting at the picnic tables, we were finishing our meal when I looked up. "Storm's coming," I said, finishing my last bite of chicken. I was looking at the huge grey stratus cloud looming through the trees.

"How soon?" said Emily, my significant other and provider of said meal.

"About five minutes." (I have a "barometer" in my right leg thanks to an old knee injury. It was starting to throb gently.) We packed up qucickly. I refilled the water bottles, and we got to our seats in the Venetian Theater (an outdoor amphitheater covered by a large tent) as the rain started.

This was a full-fledged storm, an hour of drenching rain that thrashed the trees and drummed on the canopy overhead. Finally, there was an announcement: the concert would go forward, but with the Beethoven symphony (the Seventh) moved to the opening half. It would, in any case be easier to hear than the other works on the program.

Opera Review: Hollywood Babilonia

Caramoor presents Rossini's Ciro in Babilonia.
by Paul Pelkonen

Ewa Podles (left) and Jessica Pratt sing a love duet against a digital starfield in Act II of Ciro in Babilonia.
Digital projections by Paolo Cuppo. Photo by Gabe Palacio © 2012 the Caramoor Festival

It is a testament to the industry of Giaochino Rossini that opera companies and festivals are still finding fresh works by the composer to perform. One of the rarest is the Biblical drama Ciro in Babilonia (Cyrus in Babylon) which received its U.S. premiere on Saturday night as part of Bel Canto at Caramoor, the Katonah, NY arts festival's yearly exploration of 19th century Italian repertory.

Ciro retells the story of the conquest of Babylon by the Persian emperor Cyrus II. This is the familiar story taken from the Book of Daniel, with Belshazzar's Feast, the "writing on the wall" and the subsequent downfall of Chaldea and the end of the Babylonian Captivity. Rossini chose the libretto (by Francesco Aventi) as an opera that could be performed during the Lenten season of 1812.

This Old Testament epic was soon eclipsed by the success of Rossini's later works. But that didn't stop the composer from recycling some of the best bits of Ciro into the scores of L'Italiana in Algeri and most noticeably The Barber of Seville. The autograph score is lost, but it proved possible to reconstruct Ciro from a piano rehearsal score. The opera has been recorded twice, and is occasionally revived.

The 2012 Superconductor Summer Preview

Our handy one-stop guide to summer concerts and festivals.

by Paul Pelkonen

International opera sensation Homer Simpson presents a cogent argument for
going to Tanglewood instead of the beach. Image © Gracie Films, from PopArt.Uk.

The days are getting long and barbecue grills are firing up. But in between bites, there's a smorgasbord of classical music and opera on offer this summer. We present our guide to the best of what's coming up in the summer months.
In New York


The River to River Festival is a month-long event taking place in Manhattan at various venues. It opens June 17 at the Winter Garden with the 2012 Bang on a Can Marathon a free 12-hour event of modern music. On June 20, the Philip Glass Ensemble gives its only free concert of the year, giving concert-goers the opportunity to sing along with Mr. Glass' group. 

At the Lincoln Center campus, there is programming all summer long with a bevy of entertainment options . In addition to the outdoor dance party A Midsummer Night's Swing and the jazz and world music oriented Lincoln Center Out of Doors, there's the Lincoln Center Festival.

Opera Review: Hitting the Mark

Rossini's Guillaume Tell at Caramoor.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

His aim is true: Daniel Mobbs as William Tell.
Photo by Gino Palacio © 2011 Caramoor Festival.

Friday night's performance of Rossini's final opera Guillaume Tell may be the last of this year's Bel Canto at Caramoor series. But tonight's performance at that gorgeous neo-Venetian arts colony in Katonah, NY marked a continued renaissance for this underrated, underappreciated opera.