Caramoor's 'H.M.S. Pinafore' Featured in New York Times

Open up the pages of the New York Times today and you'll find praise for Will Crutchfield, director of opera at the Katonah's Caramoor Center for the Arts.

Crutchfield directed Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore, which the Times called an "energetic comedy packed with popular choruses and arias that even listeners who are not particularly attuned to opera know and love." The story revolves around a naval ship in port and the crew's adventures in town.

The reviewer, Allan Kozin, applauded the production, noting rich performances—including "mezzo-soprano Vanessa Cariddi, who sang the role with an appealing combination of warmth and comic subtlety," and baritone Jorell Williams, who was "a magnificent, rich-toned Captain Corcoran."

Click here to read the full story.

The next opera in the series will be performed on Sat. July 9, according to Caramoor's press materials. Rossini’s Guillaume Tell will be performed in the Venetian Theater. Guillaume Tell is Rossini's final opera.

Art center officials say the opera is not often produced, given its complex casting requirements—making it a great opportunity for locals to see it performed with baritone Daniel Mobbs in the title role, alongside tenor Michael Spyres, soprano Julianna Di Giacomo, mezzo-soprano Vanessa Cariddi, tenor Brian Downen and soprano Talise Trevigne.

Here's more information on the program, via Caramoor: 

Saturday, July 9 at 7:30pm – Venetian Theater

Friday, July 15 at 7:30pm – Venetian Theater

GUILLAUME TELL by Gioachino Rossini

Saturday July 9 & Friday July 15 at 7:30 PM in the Venetian Theater

Pre-Opera Events: Guillaume Tell

During the afternoon prior to each performance (beginning at 3:00 PM on July 9 and 4:30 PM on July 15) all ticket-holders can also enjoy a varied menu of lectures and recitals along with the chance to picnic in Caramoor's famous gardens: 

 1. Creating and re-creating Guillaume Tell *  Philip Gossett and Will Crutchfield discuss what Rossini wrote, how it changed before the premiere,  how it changed again under Rossini’s hands in successive seasons, and what the work meant for the future of grand opera.

 2. “What? The whole of it?”*  This was Rossini’s ironic question when told that the third act of Guillaume Tell had been performed as part of a gala evening at the Paris Opera.  In fact, “the whole” of Tell is a difficult thing to define, because Rossini wrote more music for the opera than has ever been performed in a single evening.  The Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists present a program of alternative excerpts from other versions of the score.

3. Schiller and the Yearning for Freedom:  The most progressive idea in world politics around the dawn of the 19^th century was that nations and ethnic groups might aspire to self-government – not yet democracy, but simply the freedom from foreign rule.  Wilhelm Tell, on which Rossini’s opera is based, is one of an important series of plays exploring variations on this theme.  Others – all turned into successful operas – include Mary Stuart, Don Carlos, The Robbers, and The Maid of Orleans.  Meanwhile the new genre of the German Lied eagerly embraced Schiller as well.  The Caramoor Bel Canto Young Artists offer a recital of works in several languages drawn from Schiller’s dramas and poetry.

4.  Pre-opera lecture:  Phillip Gossett introduces Guillaume Tell

*events that will take place before the July 9 performance only