Caramoor Celebrates America at 250 With Five Summer Concerts

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Pianist Conrad Tao joins The Knights for RHAPSODY IN BLUE at the Katonah, NY venue.

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Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts will commemorate America at 250 in five concerts from June 28 to July 5, 2026. Part of Caramoor's 2026 Summer Season of over thirty concerts between June 20 and August 2, 2026, these performances showcase a variety of artists and genres honoring the nation's milestone anniversary, including premieres of two new works commissioned by Caramoor – Jeff Scott 's Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified (world premiere) composed for the Poiesis Quartet and Tyshawn Sorey's Capriccio for Violin (New York premiere) composed for violinist Johnny Gandelsman. Caramoor, once the estate of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, is one of the region's most distinctive destinations for live performance, cultural engagement, and exploration.

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On Sunday, June 28, 2026 at 4pm, GRAMMY-nominated orchestra The Knights, led by co-Artistic Directors Eric and Colin Jacobson, perform in Caramoor's Venetian Theater with acclaimed pianist Conrad Tao and violinist and vocalist Christina Courtin, in a vibrant concert highlighting the American sound. The program anchors the spirit of George Gershwin 's Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Tao's acclaimed, explosive interpretation within a broader narrative of musical innovation. From the pastoral beauty of Aaron Copland 's Appalachian Spring Suite and Margaret Bonds ' soulful Troubled Water, to contemporary rhapsodies by Jessie Montgomery, and The Knights' own Christina Courtin, this performance bridges the gap between classical tradition and modern energy.

The Poiesis Quartet gives its third and final performance as the 2025-26 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor on Thursday, July 2, 2026 at 7:30pm in the Rosen House Music Room, returning with a bold program titled A Love Letter to the Queer Community that explores queer identity and heritage through a contemporary lens. The concert (one of the group's first with new violinist Coco Mi) features the world premiere of a new work commissioned by Caramoor for the Poiesis Quartet as the culmination of the group's residency – GRAMMY-winning composer Jeff Scott 's Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified, which honors and celebrates the lives of activists Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk, Xulhaz Mannan, and Jeanne Manford. The program will also include Max Lang's commonplace little perils, Daniel Lasagna's Circus of the Mind, Maya Irizarry Lambright's forest of taldeni, and Calvin Ray Shawler's Order – all recently commissioned by the Poiesis Quartet. This performance highlights the ensemble's commitment to social narrative and musical innovation, offering a unique window into the future of the string quartet. The Quartet's November concert at Caramoor was chosen as one of the best classical performances of 2025 by The New York Times.

On Friday, July 3, 2026 at 7:30pm – the eve of what Louis Armstrong always claimed to be his birthday (July 4) – Caramoor will present a special Centennial Celebration of Louis Armstrong 's Hot Five on Friends Field, in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center. The music Armstrong created in the 1920s with the Hot Five remains among the most influential, timeless, and joyous in the history of American music. Under the auspices of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, the evening honors the recordings that transformed jazz from a collective style into a soloist's art form, forever changing the course of popular music. Co-hosts GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Alphonso Horne and pianist Ricky Riccardi are joined by all-star artists including clarinetist Evan Arntzen, trombonist Ron Wilkins, and drummer Charles Goold , performing revolutionary recordings from a century ago that reshaped the sound and future of jazz.

Caramoor will present Pops, Patriots, and Fireworks in the Venetian Theater on Saturday, July 4, 2026 at 8pm. Caramoor's most festive tradition returns for a historic Independence Day program, featuring the Westchester Symphonic Winds conducted by Curt Ebersole, with assistant conductor Jessica Stein-Natale. The program honors 250 years of American spirit with patriotic favorites including The Star-Spangled Banner (Arr. J. Williams) by John Stafford Smith , WSW American Overture by Barton Green, The White Rose (Arr. K. Brion) by John Philip Sousa , An American Elegy by Frank Ticheli, 1812 Overture (Arr. M. Lake) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , and The Stars And Stripes Forever (Arr. K. & L. Schissel) by John Philip Sousa . MaryKay Messenger, the former premier vocalist for the West Point Band, will join for a selection of songs. Messenger first sang with the West Point Band in 1980 at the age of 12 and continued to perform as a guest vocalist for a variety of concerts until joining the Army in 1996. She recently retired in 2025 after 29 years of service. The evening concludes with a dazzling fireworks display that lights up the sky, making a perfect 4th of July party for the whole family.

On Sunday, July 5, 2026, violinist, producer, and 2024 MacArthur Fellow Johnny Gandelsman caps off Caramoor's commemoration concerts with an extended program of solo violin works from his project This is America, featuring the New York premiere of Capriccio for Violin – a Caramoor co-commission by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tyshawn Sorey. This is America is Gandelsman's 2020 collection of over 20 new works he commissioned for solo violin, written by American and US-based composers reflecting on the challenges of living through the pandemic and concurrent worldwide turmoil. Gandelsman brings these intimate musical portraits of joy, uncertainty, isolation, and love, by composers including Justin Messina, Layale Chaker, Tyshawn Sorey, Dana Lyn , Kinan Azmeh, Akshaya Tucker, Ebun Oguntola, Tomeka Reid, Christina Courtin, Olivia Davis, and Rhiannon Giddens to Caramoor. This profound, emotional journey is presented in two parts at 1pm in the Sunken Garden and 3pm in the Spanish Courtyard. In between, at 2:15pm, there will be a talk with Johnny Gandelsman, Dana Lyn , and Christina Courtin.

“I've come to think of [This is America] as an anthology, a snapshot in time, documenting a tiny slice of the creative thought and output in this country,” says Gandelsman. “Six years have passed, yet the works which encapsulated moments of 2020 are still relevant today. I invite you to stop listening to pundits, extend your ears, open up your imagination, and trust the music to guide you into a complicated, challenging and thrilling sound world.”

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/central-new-york/article/Caramoor-to-Host-Five-Summer-Concerts-Commemorating-America-at-250-20260610)._