Copland House Names Caples Jefferson Architects To Design Transformational Expansion

Copland House, the award-winning creative center for American music and the arts based at legendary composer Aaron Copland's National Historic Landmark home in New York's Lower Hudson Valley, has announced its selection of Caples Jefferson Architects to plan, design, and develop Bluestone Farm, its vast, recently-purchased satellite venue on the New York-Connecticut border.

Founded by Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson in 1987, Caples Jefferson Architects has been widely honored for its many cultural, educational, and civic projects. With a strong commitment to creating architecture at the intersection of social justice, the arts, and learning, the firm devotes approximately half of its projects to communities underserved by the design profession. The two principals were just elected as National Academicians of the National Academy of Design, in recognition of their contributions to contemporary American art and architecture. 

The $3-million, 24-acre former grade-school campus in Brewster, NY, in the Town of Southeast (photo, above) is the focal point of Copland House's transformational programmatic and institutional expansion. Bluestone Farm will enable Copland House to substantially extend its artistic support, audience reach, public presentations, educational engagement, and programs that uniquely embrace and champion the entire creative process. The magnificent property will serve as a vital, live and virtual meeting place where artists, music and arts lovers, cultural adventurers, and newcomers of all ages, backgrounds, and identities are welcomed into an exhilarating world of ongoing exploration, discovery, and innovation.

“In a profoundly-changed post-pandemic world, we together with Caples Jefferson will rethink what it means to be a creative center as we head towards the mid-21st-century – where the power of ideas, artistry, expressivity, communication, and collaboration can bring people together,” said Copland House's Artistic and Executive Director Michael Boriskin, a noted pianist, recording artist, producer, and one of Musical America's “Top 30 Professionals of 2023.” “Sara, Everardo, and their top-flight team will enable us to envision and realize Copland House's next quarter-century and beyond, and shape our exponentially-increased capacity to deepen our relationships with the music industry, general public, and educational community, near and far."

As Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson, the Founding Principals of Caples Jefferson, explained about their attraction to the project, "We love that the campus builds on the foundational legacy of Aaron Copland, whose compositions brought our nation's music to new levels. We look to find ways, as Copland did, to create experiences that go deep into our art while providing accessible enjoyment to all. And we're excited by the game-changing possibilities that will result as Copland House's compelling vision reshapes its new campus as a pivotal location for creation and performance. We're deeply honored to be working on this verdant, hilly site, re-centering it in contemporary American sound."

For 50 years, until the mid-2010s, Bluestone Farm was the site of the beloved Melrose School, an Episcopal grade school located 75 minutes north of New York City, at the nexus of Westchester, Putnam, and Fairfield Counties. Before that, in the 1940s and ‘50s, it was the country home of the pioneering lyricist and author Dorothy Fields, one of the first women to flourish on Broadway. Copland House's revival of the bucolic property brings it back to its modern-era roots as a home for creativity, learning, reflection, and public engagement.

Offering both a serene location and ready public access by car, train, and air, the heart of the wooded property is a 25,000-square-foot, three-wing school building, which is surrounded by three residential houses, an intimate stand-alone chapel, small farm outbuildings, and a large outdoor soccer field. Copland House plans to develop a state-of-the-art performance, recording, film, educational, and distance-learning venue; artist studios and living quarters for composer-led resident creative teams working collaboratively in theater, dance, opera, the visual arts, and other genres; exterior gardens and green spaces for leisure, public performances, and other presentations; administrative offices; and interior and exterior exhibition and gathering areas. Everything is designed to build multiple opportunities for engagement with diverse populations – both experienced and newcomers – to directly interact with living creators, and experience new works as they are being developed.

The acquisition was recognized with a CoStar Impact Award as Sale of the Year in Westchester and Southern Connecticut, which “highlights real estate transactions and projects that have transformed their markets,” and is chosen by an independent panel of industry professionals. This sale, said Cameron LaPoint, a Yale University finance professor, “will give back to the surrounding community by offering musical and cultural events.” 

Copland House's substantial programmatic and institutional growth will strongly complement the continuing and essential role of Rock Hill (at right), Copland's beloved, decades-long residence in adjacent Westchester County, New York, a National Historic Landmark that will always stand as the organization's irreplaceable institutional and inspirational home.

As Ezriel Kornel, President of Copland House's Board of Trustees, has explained, “Caples Jefferson has had long expertise and an impressive track record in a wide variety of cultural, theatrical, and civic projects. We were deeply impressed with their understanding of our mission, as well as their readiness to work in collaboration with us to fully realize our vision and specific needs. They've also been clearly moved by the historical nature of this project and how this will be transformative on the national arts scene. Their work combines bold, contemporary design, a strong sense of legacy, and a deep commitment to sustainability and inclusivity. With their devotion to equity and innovation, Caples Jefferson transforms architecture into a celebration of place and belonging, leaving a lasting impact on both the built environment and the communities they serve.”

ABOUT COPLAND HOUSE AND THE COPLAND HOUSE ENSEMBLE

Copland House has long welcomed past and present musical dreamers, explorers, and innovators of all backgrounds and identities, who – like Aaron Copland – have changed the way we engage with the world. An award-winning creative center for American music based at Rock Hill, Copland's longtime residence and a National Historic Landmark in New York's Lower Hudson Valley, Copland House is the only composer's home in the U.S. devoted to nurturing America's vibrant, diverse cultural legacy through a broad range of musical, public, educational, and digital programs. Hailed by The New York Times for “all the richness of its offerings,” Copland House's activities resonate far beyond its walls, nationally and globally, and are built upon three primary programmatic areas: multi-faceted composer support, live and recorded performances, and in-school and on-site educational activities. Among its honors are the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award, American Music Center's Letter of Distinction, Westchester magazine's “Best of the Decade” recognition and “Top 52 Reasons to Love Westchester,” and ArtsWestchester's Arts Organization of the Year Award.

Its touring, resident Copland House Ensemble has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, the European Broadcasting Union, and Sirius; engaged by the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution, the Caramoor, Cape Cod, Bard, Bowdoin, and Ecstatic Music Festivals, and many others; and been heard on the Arabesque, Koch International, and Copland House Blend labels. It has commissioned nearly 100 works, and presents a wide variety of educational and community outreach activities across the U.S. Founded in 1999 by flutist Paul Lustig Dunkel, clarinetist Derek Bermel, violinist Nicholas Kitchen, cellist Wilhelmina Smith, and pianist Michael Boriskin, the ensemble's concerts feature its stellar roster of Founding, Principal, and Guest Artists, of whom The Chicago Tribune raved “Copland would have been proud of them all.”

ABOUT CAPLES JEFFERSON ARCHITECTS

Founded in 1987 by principals Sara Caples and Everardo Jefferson, CAPLES JEFFERSON ARCHITECTS is an award-winning New York City-based design and architecture firm that has created work at the intersection of social equity, education and culture. One of its most recent projects was its widely-applauded new Louis Armstrong Center, a museum and administrative building located in the famed jazz trumpeter's home across the street in the Corona section of Queens, NY. Other notable projects are Weeksville, a new visitor's building and campus built around a rediscovered freedmen's preservation site in Brooklyn; interior and exterior portions of the Africa Center, located at the “gateway to Harlem” on Upper Fifth Avenue near 110th Street; and the Queens Theatre-in-the-Park, expanding an iconic 1964 World's Fair building into a public performance venue.

The firm's two principals were elected this fall as National Academicians of the National Academy of Design, in recognition of their contributions to contemporary American art and architecture. Among the firm's many other honors are the 2017 President's Award from American Institute of Architects, New York chapter (AIANY), and designation in 2012 as AIA's New York State Firm of the Year. CJA's work has been widely featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Domus, and other major media outlets. The firm was listed among the “Top 50 Sustainable Firms in the United States” in Architect 50, a nationwide ranking by Architect magazine. Sara and Everardo are frequently guest educators in architecture schools, most recently jointly as Davenport Professors at Yale University. Sara has been a Fellow for Innovation in Engagement at Pratt Institute, and Everardo has served on the boards of social justice and educational institutions, and is a Commissioner of the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission. Their most recent book is Many Voices: Architecture for Social Equity.

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