For One Night a Feeling of Caramoor on the Seine

KATONAH, N.Y. -- Almost as soon as American music was weaned of its early dependency on German models it developed an adolescent crush on France. The relationship was consummated by the influential pedagogue Nadia Boulanger and her distinguished line of American students, chief among them Aaron Copland.

Alisa Weilerstein performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at the Caramoor International Music Festival in Katonah, N.Y. Ms. Weilerstein had been in Caramoor's mentor program. Inspired by this historical connection, pieces by Gershwin, Copland, Leonard Bernstein and the French composer Gabriel Faur -- grandfathered in for having taught Boulanger -- were strung together for the opening concert of the Caramoor International Music Festival on Saturday night. The title of the program, “Americans in Paris," was something of a stretch given the pieces included.

There was a more significant theme lurking in this performance by the Orchestra of St. Luke's, though admittedly one not as readily adapted for a gala dinner and post-concert party. Of the three soloists, two -- the cellist Alisa Weilerstein and the clarinetist Igor Begelman -- were students in Rising Stars, Caramoor's mentor program, founded in 1992 as a way for promising young players to work with seasoned professionals. The third, the pianist Jon Kimura Parker, was a Rising Stars mentor.

Caramoor is abundantly blessed with immediate charms, not the least being its verdant setting and comfortable evening climate. The Orchestra of St. Luke's plays reliably well and sounds remarkably good in the festival's open-air Venetian Theater. But the excellence of the Rising Stars program provides a reminder that creature comforts don't overshadow artistic ideals.