Caramoor International Music Festival Announces 2011 Lineup, 6/25-8/10

Michael Barrett, CEO and General Director of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, today announced the lineup for the 2011 Caramoor International Music Festival, which opens on June 25 and offers enormous appeal to all audiences with a rich array of artists and repertoire from the worlds of classical, jazz, Latin, pop and American Roots music. The 66th season of this iconic summer festival - which is held annually at the Center's distinguished 90-acre garden estate in Katonah, New York - will run from June 25 to August 10. 

"I am looking forward with great anticipation to this coming summer season at Caramoor, which offers a world tour of music artistry that transcends genre, geography and even time," says Barrett. "The 2011 festival showcases Caramoor as a unique outdoor venue with tremendous musical variety, performed at the highest level - whether you're searching for an evening of operatic excitement, a chance to dance in the aisles to West African rhythms, or just a perfect spot to enjoy an afternoon musical picnic with the family."
 
Opening Night/Bel Canto at Caramoor
Building on the extraordinary success of previous seasons, Caramoor's Director of Opera Will Crutchfield marks the 15th season of the Bel Canto at Caramoor series with a vibrant presentation of HMS Pinafore by Gilbert & Sullivan for the festival's Opening Night on June 25, featuring Georgia Jarman, Robert McPherson, Jorell Williams, Vanessa Cariddi, Scott Bearden and Jason Plourde. On July 9 and 15, Julianna di Giacomo, Michael Spyres, Daniel Mobbs and Talise Trevigne are among the many artists who will take the stage of the Venetian Theater for the rarely-performed pinnacle of Rossini operas, Guillaume Tell (William Tell).  Both operas will feature the Orchestra of St. Luke's under the direction of Crutchfield.   

The resident orchestra at Caramoor since it was formed there in 1979, the Orchestra of St. Luke's concerts glitter with luminous soloists, classic repertoire, and a fresh approach to symphonic music. This season, the orchestra is joined by: violin superstar Sarah Chang, who will put her virtuosic stamp on Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 under the baton of conductor Douglas Boyd (July 16); violinist Jennifer Koh and cellist Alisa Weilerstein, appearing as guest soloists in the Brahms Double Concerto led by conductor Pablo Heras-Casado (July 30); and violinist Charles Yang, in an Independence Day Eve program featuring Henri Vieuxtemp's "Yankee Doodle" variations.
 
Recitals and Chamber Music
The summer festival programs continue to provide a wide range of recital and chamber music offerings, which this season include a duo recital performance by Alisa Weilerstein and Gabriel Kahane on July 29. This unique program comprises Kahane's original songs featuring piano, banjo, electric guitar, voice and loops; Britten's Cello Suite No. 2; Bach's Cello Suite No. 6 in D major; and Kahane's newest work - written expressly for Weilerstein and the composer himself - Little Sleep's Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight. This new work is a hybrid cello sonata/song cycle set to the eponymous poem by Galway Kinnell from his monumental work, The Book of Nightmares. On July 17, celebrated vocalists Sasha Cooke, Paul Appleby, Erin Morely and Kelly Markgraf will sing of "Mahler's Vienna" with pianists Michael Barrett, Ieva Jokubaviciute and David Moody. The program features Mahler's Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes, and selections by Zemlinsky and Berg. On July 22 and 31, Caramoor presents Prizing the Pulitzer, a two-concert celebration of the geniuses nominated for this prestigious award. An impressive compilation of American masterworks - including music by Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, Paul Moravec and John Cage - will be performed by the Music from Copland House ensemble. In addition, this cultural touchstone of a program provides concertgoers an opportunity to attend pre- and post-concert discussions about the brilliant composers honored - and in some cases, controversially overlooked - by the prize. On June 26, acclaimed pianist and radio host Christopher O'Riley is joined by a group of extraordinary young musicians in thrilling performances, interviews, and games, for a live broadcast recording of NPR's "From the Top" in Caramoor's Venetian Theater. The Jasper String Quartet returns for a second year as Caramoor's Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence with a program of works by Schubert, Aaron Jay Kernis, and a world premiere by Andrew Norman (August 4), the veteran Emerson String Quartet performs the final quartets of Haydn, Bartok and Schubert (July 10), and the Caramoor Virtuosi play John Adams' Shaker Loops, Schubert's Trout Quintet, and Mozart's String Quintet in D Major (July 8). Making their Caramoor recital debut, former Caramoor Rising Star Arnaud Sussmann teams up with 2010 Concert Artist Guild winner Michael Brown for an intricately powerful program of works by Janacek, Suk, Debussy and Brahms (July 7). Twice this summer, concertgoers can enjoy peaceful music while surrounded by Caramoor's beautiful lush gardens with Guitar in the Garden, a popular series that features the Beijing Guitar Duo (June 30) and Jason Vieaux (July 21) this season.

4th of July weekend celebrates America's musical past, present and future
On Friday, July 1, Caramoor kicks off the holiday weekend by transporting audiences to the American revolutionary era with an original program entitlEd Thomas Jefferson's Music at Monticello. Musicians Paul Woodiel, Robert Mealy, Mazz Swift-Camlet, Christoper Layer, Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton and Dennis James offer a snapshot of two cultures living side-by-side at the legendary Virginian estate of our nation's third president - from the Mozart, Haydn, and Corelli heard in the salon, to the African spirituals heard in the slave quarters. Performances on the Glass Armonica, an instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin, will also be featured. Saturday, July 2, brings a day-long celebration of American Roots Music, featuring performances throughout the Caramoor grounds as families are invited to picnic and stroll the gardens; a new trio led by innovative mandolinist David Grisman, the soulfully unique Brooklyn-based group Ollabelle, and artists James Maddock, Brother Sun, Sweetback Sisters and Spuyten Duyvil will span the broad spectrum of fundamentally American music with bluegrass, country, blues, gospel and jazz inspired performances.  On July 3, Michael Barrett takes the podium for the spectacular Pops, Patriots & Fireworks concert of festive American classics - including music by John Philip Sousa and Scott Joplin - followed by a fireworks display, creating a perfect holiday event for the whole family.  

"This year's festival presents an intrinsic theme of American music - from the halls of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, to a celebration of Pulitzer nods past and present, to new works by Andrew Norman and the stunningly original Gabriel Kahane," says Barrett. "This central project, interspersed with some classic Beethoven, Bruch, Brahms, Rossini and Mahler, represents just a small taste of the classical fare we offer up this summer. The celebration crosses into multiple genres as well - we take great pride in the fact that Caramoor is recognized as one of the area's most musically diverse festivals, offering something to suit every taste."
 
Going Global
The festival goes global in late July and early August, with Oumou Sangaré, "The Songbird of Wassoulou", making her triumphant return to the Venetian Theater on July 23 with her band for a spectacular evening of music and dance from her vibrant West African homeland of Mali.  The following afternoon, July 24, audiences will transport to Brazil with "Camerata Latina do Brasil: Celebrating 3 Brazilian Masters"- in this stimulating concert. flutist Marco Granados, pianist Jovino Santos Neto and vocalist Maucha Adnet pay homage to the music of Pixinguinha, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Hermeto Pascoal.
 
Jazz Festival
The first weekend of August, Caramoor echoes with jazz sounds as the annual weekend-long jazz festival welcomes the industry's brightest new talents and celebrated chart-toppers, demonstrating the breadth and diversity of the state of the genre. On August 5, pianist Renee Roses and her quartet will perform in Caramoor's intimate Spanish Courtyard. Saturday, August 6, brings a lineup of stellar musicians to the Venetian Theater, starting with Juan Carlos Formell's "Johnny's Dream Club", followed by Joshua Redman's latest project James Farm, and Lucky Peterson's joyous, foot-tapping set of authentic blues. In the evening, virtuoso bassist Christian McBride brings his Big Band to heat up the theater as Saturday's headliner. On Sunday, August 7, the Robert Glasper Trio, Edmar Castaneda Quartet, and Fred Hersch/Nico Gori Duo will kick off the afternoon, followed by legendary guitarist and innovator John Scofield with his trio. 2010 MacArthur "Genius" Fellow recipient Jason Moran brings his intrepid trio, The Bandwagon, to close out the 2011 Caramoor Jazz Festival. 

Family Programs
Family-friendly offerings this summer include: Al Fresco Sundays, which allow audiences to enjoy the sounds of selected concerts from the lawn and picnic areas at Caramoor (July 10, 17, 24, 31); Dancing at Dusk, a series that offers families an opportunity to learn traditional tunes and dances of Ireland (June 29), Greece (July 13), Italy (July 17) and Brazil (August 10); and "Finding Your Way Through a Concert", a new interactive program for families during which Family Program Designer Kate Kresek and the young group Kaleidoscope - the Teaching Artists Ensemble of the New York Philharmonic - will lead audiences on a unique musical adventure through the world of classical music (July 16).
 
Tickets for the 2011 Caramoor International Music Festival are on sale now. Order by calling the Box Office at 914.232.1252 or online at www.caramoor.org. Groups of 16 or more may purchase discounted tickets by contacting Matthew Scarella at 914.232.5035 ext. 252 or matthew@caramoor.org.  (For opening night Gala tickets, including cocktail reception, dinner, concert, and post-concert dessert and dancing, email events@caramoor.org or call 914.232.1492.)
 
PRESS TICKETS
For press tickets, artist bios and/or images, please contact Whitney Holden: 917.339.7188, wholden@cohndutcher.com