Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, continues its intimate Rosen House Concert Series with three performances in March. On Sunday, March 8 at 3:00pm, Caramoor presents the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars’ culminating performance. Goitse, a traditional Irish quintet, takes the stage on Friday, March 20 at 7:30pm. Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson will perform on Sunday, March 22 at 3:00pm. Caramoor’s Rosen House Concert Series is held in the Music Room of the historic home – a Mediterranean-style villa from 1939 filled with treasures from around the world. Audiences enjoy performances by some of today’s most in-demand artists in the same living room salon setting where Walter and Lucie Rosen once entertained their many friends.
Every year since 2009, Schwab Vocal Rising Stars’ Artistic Director Steven Blier has selected four promising singers and a pianist for a week-long Caramoor residency that includes daily coaching, rehearsals, and workshops, culminating in a concert in the Music Room. Assisted by Bénédicte Jourdois and developed in conjunction with the New York Festival of Song, this year’s program, To The Sea, is a hymn to the lure (and the menace) of the ocean, including works by Elgar, Guastavino, Rachmaninoff, Pauline Viardot, and Debussy. This year’s Schwab Vocal Rising Stars are Shiyu Zhuo, soprano; Anna Maria Vacca, mezzo-soprano; Nathan Romportl, tenor; Will Kim, baritone; and Luis Villarreal, piano. Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under. Prior to this performance, Caramoor presents Steven Blier in Conversation with David Pogue in the Music Room. In this engaging evening, Blier will discuss his recently released memoir From Ear to Ear: A Pianist’s Love Affair with Song, named a Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year.
The Irish quintet Goitse have won hearts (and numerous awards) with their perfect blend of time-honored Irish tunes and their own fresh compositions. When Áine McGeeney’s expressive fiddle playing and vocals meet Colm Phelan’s award-winning bodhrán rhythms, something magical happens. Add Conal O’Kane’s masterful guitar work, Alan Reid’s versatile multi-instrumental talents, and Daniel Collins’ lively accordion, and audiences will be tapping their feet from start to finish.
The Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has a rare blend of technical mastery and poetic sensitivity has captivated audiences around the globe. Hailed for his visionary artistry, he has amassed over one billion streams and earned some of the highest accolades in classical music, including the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo for his Goldberg Variations, BBC Music Magazine’s Album of the Year, and two Opus Klassik Awards for Solo Recording of the Year. He has also been named Gramophone’s Artist of the Year, Musical America’s Instrumentalist of the Year, and received the prestigious Icelandic Export Award, presented by the President of Iceland. Ólafsson’s Caramoor recital is an exploration of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in E major, Op. 109, which he contextualizes with the same composer’s E minor sonata, Op. 90, and works in both keys by Bach and Schubert. This concert is sold out; the Caramoor website will be updated with availability.
