Caramoor's Bel Canto opera program, directed by musicologist Will Crutchfield, will present semi-staged versions of Bellini's La sonnambula and Verdi's La traviata. La sonnambula will be directed by Ira Siff, once best known as Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh, the prima donna of the drag troupe La Gran Scena Opera Company; soprano Sumi Jo stars. Chuck Hudson directs La traviata; Crutchfield conducts both productions.

Other highlights include a three-concert look at the "private, religious, and public sides" of Bach; a performance of contemporary music by the chamber group Ethel; and the annual jazz festival, directed by saxophonist Joe Lovano and featuring Michael Brecker, Tom Harrell, and Charles McPherson,

The festival opens on June 25 with a gala concert featuring Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Caramoor artistic advisor and principal conductor Peter Oundjian leads the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the festival's resident orchestra; Robert Bass's Collegiate Chorale; and soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme, mezzo-soprano Mary Phillips, tenor Simon O'Neill, and bass-baritone Philip Cutlip.

The season finale, on August 13, will feaure Miklos R‹zsa's Spellbound Concerto for Theremin and Orchestra, a nod to Caramoor founder Lucie Rosen, a theremin performer and advocate of the instrument. The concert will also include soprano Audra McDonald singing works by George Gershwin.